Would someone with access to AIR 27/570 Sep-Dec 1944 ORB of No. 60 Squadron SAAF, kindly tell what there is recorded about Mosquito PRXVI NS656 lost 13 Oct 1944, up from San Severo for PR mission to central Czechoslovakia with Pilot 206489V Lieut. Daniel Victor Sheldon SAAF and Navigator 15295 F/O Peter Arthur Kynaston Snell RAFVR. Both now interred at Klagenfurt War Cemetery in Austria.
AIR 27 ORB files are available from TNA for £3.36 each. I could have sworn that SAAF files were in series AIR 54 and were a free resource but now I can't find them that way. Extract from AIR 27/570/2 attached (100 pages for AU$5 - a bargain)
The reason the file seems so large is that it contains after flight Interrogation Reports for every mission flown. There is one for the flight in question, but I don't know if it shows anything of value.
Some info might also be in AIR 27/563/10 1944 Oct 01 - 1944 Oct 31 Squadron Number: 60 Summary of Events: Y but the other file pretty much states that their fate was unknown as of the end of October. I wonder how long it took before the circumstances were known to the SQN? Might not have been resolved until the end of the war (or when Allied troops arrived in the vicinity of the crash site). ****************************************************** Pilot 206489V Lieut. Daniel Victor Sheldon SAAF and Navigator 15295 F/O Peter Arthur Kynaston Snell RAFVR I just checked the RAF casualty lists (Flight Global archive of FLIGHT magazine announcements) - Snell & Sheldon show up in the March 8th 1945 edition as status "Missing" MISSING - F/O. P. A. K. Snell (Casualty Communique # 476) South African Air Force KILLED IN ACTION - Lt. O. Lloyd. MISSING, BELIEVED KILLED IN ACTION - Lt. R. B. Berry. MISSING - Lt. H. M. Hither; Air Mech. Medalie; Lt. D. V. Sheldon. KILLED ON ACTIVE SERVICE - Lt. Q. R. Dummett.
I could have sworn that SAAF files were in series AIR 54 and were a free resource but now I can't find them that way. Still free. | The National Archives Regards, Dave
Still free. | The National Archives Regards, Dave Poo - why couldn't I find them?? Now that is a bargain though, 700 pages for zero dollars. Why do the files exist in two places??
Why do the files exist in two places?? Not sure. I went in through the ORBs sticky on TOCH. Post 17 has all the good SAAF stuff. Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum - View Single Post - RAF and RAAF ORBs available on the Web (new version) Regards, Dave
The Interrogation Report of Sortie 60/787 states: P/C/a/3398, Nem. Brod. A/D., Chrudim A/D., Soutec. A/D., P/C/a/3390., P/C/a/3397., Leignitz A/D., Leignitz/Schanfeld A/D. and Aslau A/D. I do not unterstand entries: "P/C/a/3398, 3390 and 3397". Can anyone explain that to me? Thanks! - Kurtl
Excellent! I downloaded the lot of Interrogation Reports from National Archives and have been poring over them, then googled till bleary eyed to find a catalog of photographic reconnaissance target points (or whatever they are called). Nothing. P/C/a 2884 Prague P/H/a 2993 Budapest Refineries P/AU/a 2990 Lobau M/I/b 2678 Bressanone M/I/b 2664 Vipiteno P/Y/c 2922 Bezdan S/Y/a 2908 Petrovac S/G/b 2840 Nurmburg Flak area P/R/a 2875 Rustchuk The first letter is either M, P or S (maybe Marker, Point, Station?) The second letter is the country, in the above examples, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, Germany, Rumania The third letter is almost always a, sometimes b or c. The fourth position is a four number group specifying the in-country location. They could be sequential across all countries in the theater. I may be too thick, but there are no coordinates in the four digits, a reference book of codes to locations is needed. The reports make for interesting reading, actually. I there someone out there, who knows the key, has a list?
The visit list for for NS656 on 13 Oct 1944 looks like this: P/C/a/3398. Nem.Brod.A/D. Chrudim A/D. Scutec. A/D. P/C/a/3390. P/C/a/3397. Leignitz A/D. Leignitz/Schanfeld A/D. Aslau. A/D. I have been able to peg these: Německý Brod / Deutschbrod http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havl%C3%ADčkův_Brod 49.603333, 15.58 city Chrudim / Chrudim Chrudim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 49.951111, 15.795556 Skuteč Skuteč - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 49.843462,15.996609 town 49.82918,16.006565 airfield Liegnitz / Legnica Legnica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 51.208333, 16.160278 city 51.182786,16.178913 airfield Aslau / Osla Information on German City of Aslau 51.319938,15.75006 village 51.308726,15.727358 airfield
A lot of European mainland targets were spelled phonetically, fritzelblitz, so what you are doing is the only known way to find what these places are called today. For a real "horror show" have a look at some of the German place names in MREU/MRES post-war aircrew casualty files. Regards, Dave
Thank you DaveB and alieneyes for leads to the ORB. Have recently found reference to a crash site in german KU documents: Siebenkögerl, about 8,5 km N of Passail in Styria, Austria That would be here on Google Maps: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=47.347837,+15.532522&hl=en&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=8.401269,19.709473&t=h&z=16 I have entered the location on the lostaircraft.com entry for Mosquito NS656: http://www.lostaircraft.com/database.php?lang=en&e=28544&mode=viewentry Anyone find a good email address for the pilot's nephew, David Sheldon, yet, since "David.Sheldon@poports.com.au" is invalid?
Hello, David Sheldon here after all this time - I appreciate all the information that Fritzelblitz and others have managed to uncover - I am here now my email address Sheldonfam@gmail.com. Many thanks again, David Sheldon
