According to a report from the gendarmerie, on October 9, 1942 at 6:30 am, an English bombing plane landed at La Ménardière in Saint Marc la Futaie (Mayenne) this morning. The Landivy gendarmerie went to the scene and guarded the aircraft. The search for the crew is carried out by the whole gendarmerie of the department of Mayenne. Members of the crew parachuted into the Fougères region as a first PV signaled aviators wearing a fleeced persimmon uniform. There was indeed a mission in the night of 8/9. 57 aircraft to Lorient, St-Nazaire, Brest, Ostend, Texel and the Frisians. 2 Wellingtons lost. 6 Wellingtons planned on Brest, 5 Wellingtons effective. 6 Wellingtons planned on St Nazaire, 4 Wellingtons effective. 2 Wellingtons of the 75 Sqdn, planned on Lorient, 3 Wellingtons of the 12 Squadron carry out the mission. An aircraft is shot down in the Riantec area. 2 Wellingtons of the 115 Squadron. I bought the ORBs of the three squadrons quoted and a priori a single loss that of Riantec that we have. Wellington Mk III BJ78.
Yes I know this Vickers Wellington III (BJ780 PH-W). Fell in Riantec in the Morbihan. My loss given by the gendarmes is located more than 200 km northeast of Riantec. Wellington BJ780 https://www.google.fr/maps/dir/Sain...x40ca5cd36e2be10!2m2!1d-3.304275!2d47.7200879
OK, so it's NOT BJ780. Do you have any details of the correct Serial (your first post just gave BJ78_ (no final numeral) Do you know what happened to the crew? Are there burials for them or did they all evade or become Prisoners of War? Regards
Sorry in my first post I forgot the zero at the BJ780. The report of the French gendarmes clearly states that the English bomber landed in the morning at 6:30. The gendarmes of the Landivy brigade went to the scene to guard the aircraft. The search to find the crew sotn carried out by the whole gendarmerie of the department of Mayenne. A real hunt for men ! So the bomber did not crash on the ground. I searched in the list of escaped, POWs, never found anything.
As said Wellington BJ 780 crashed at Riantec. It was an aircraft of No 12 Squadron out of Wickenby (Loss Card records Binbrook but the squadron appears to have moved to Wickenby in late September 1942 ) which was tasked to drop mines in the St Nazaire sea roads.It was homebound but flew via the Lorient which as a U Boat base was heavily defended by AA.It was hit by flak and crashed at Riantec,on the south side of the Blavet on which Lorient stands.All the crew survived but went into the bag as POWs. Dan's photograph shows the crew after capture which does not illustrate any serious injury to Sergeant Temple RCAF.....said to be caused by a collision with the main spar as Bill Chorley records......Loss Card records slight injuries. (Riantec is close to Port Louis a naval fort from the Napoleon era and is worth visiting for its museum and further south is Etel where the Germans surrendered the Lorient Pocket to US forces in May 1945....a bit of WW2 history available with a holiday) I cannot locate the other Wellington recorded as being lost on that night at Saint Mars sur la Futaie (I take it that it is Mars not Marc) the aircraft must have been well off course for the outbound or homebound routes and may have been tasked for Lorient or St Nazaire although it could have been completely lost if despatched for Brest. But tracing any casualties via Geoff's search engine,I cannot find any relevant casualties which suggests that the Saint Mars sur la Futaie crew became POWs. However there is no mention in RAF Loss Cards of another Wellington lost on the night 8/9 October 1942.
Have searched - Recherche crash avion 39-45 - France-Crashes 39-45 for aircraft that came down in Mayenne on 8th & 9th Oct 1942 - results are zero. The only aircraft I can find on that site that came down in France on 8th Oct 1942 is - Recherche de France-Crashes 39-45 there is also a link to photos of the aircraft and its crew - Wellington BJ780 TD
