JOHNSTON, JOHN OSWALD Initials: J O Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Sergeant (Air Bomber) Regiment: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Unit Text: 619 Sqdn. Date of Death: 22/06/1944 Service No: 1048606 Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: 5. D. 7. Cemetery: RHEINBERG WAR CEMETERY I'm presently trying to find out more on this man? How many would have been on his aircraft? Where would the intended target have been? What type of aircraft? Is there anything about special about the date in question... Many many thanks! Mark
The aircraft was Lancaster I serial LL977 Code PG-H The aircraft had flown a total of 67.55 hours from being delivered to 619 Sqn on 13.05.44. Built by Armstrong Whitworth. The crew were F/L D.C.Saunders (pilot) Sgt C.W.Goodwin F/S J.E.Whittome Sgt C.C.Flewelling RCAF Sgt J.O.Johnston (2nd air bomber) W/O C.H.Sheridan Sgt A.J.Handford Sgt J.L.Halpin All killed except Saunders who was taken prisoner. They took off from Dunholme Lodge at 23.07 hrs 21.06.44 and were hit by flak returning after mission. Crashed near Aachen. They were on a bombing mission to Wesseling. Saunders was thrown from cockpit after initial explosion. 38 Lancasters were lost on this mission. Info from 'Bomber Command Losses'
Bomber Command Losses 1944 by W.R.CHORLEY says: There were 8 crew all killed except one who was a pow. The plane was a Lancaster 1 LL977 PG-H on an operation to Wesseling. They t/o at 2307 from Dunholme Lodge. Outbound, hit by flak at 17,000 ft in the vicinity of Aachen. Sgt J.O.Johnson was the second air bomber. All were buried at Rheinberg War Cemetery. It appears that there were in the region of 38 Lancaters lost on this operation Hope this helps. John
Guys...can't thank you enough!....his wife lives in my street and was having a cup of tea the other day when the subject arose!...this sheds a lt of light on the matter! Just finally...what exactly did a 2nd air bomber do?
Sgt Johnson was the eighth member of the crew and as the second air bomber (bomb aimer) he may not have had many operations under his belt.He was probably on the trip for bomb aimer experience as the final part of his training and would have generally helped out the air gunners in an emergency had injury or any other emergency occurred.At that time Sgt Johnson may have not been allocated to a regular crew and would be known as a "spare bod".The Lancaster bomb aimer also acted in a dual role as the front gunner when required but could not fullfil this task when engaged on his "bombing run" The crew of the Lancaster was normally seven.No 101 Squadron was the exception and carried an eight man crew with the ABC "cigar operator's role being undertaken by a German speaking crewman radio operator.His role was to confuse the German night fighter pilots by giving them false infomation in German which purported to come from the German Ground Controllers.Hence it was a dual of wits between the two parties where the German Ground Controllers were continually changing command frequencies and the "cigar operator" was anticipating those changes to protect his bomber stream. On this particular night, No 101 Squadron lost two aircraft over the target and continent.Lancaster losses were heavy due to the fact that German night fighters successfully penetrated the bomber stream.
Can anyone tell me what this guy was doing when he was killed? Flying Officer MONTAGUE FRANK BAXTER 10 Sqdn. Killed 22/11/1943 Thanks, Steve
He was in the crew of Halifax II serial JD146 Code ZA-V which crashed without trace on a bombing raid to Berlin. The aircraft took off at 16:46 22.11.43 from Melbourne, UK The other crew were F/O D.S.Pont Sgt T.H.R.McKeag Sgt A.Buchan Sgt J.McMillan Sgt K.Lance Sgt D.Mackenzie All are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial
Terry Denham stated-They took off from Dunholme Lodge at 23.07 hrs 21.06.44 and were hit by flak returning after mission. JohnOwen stated-Outbound, hit by flak at 17,000 ft in the vicinity of Aachen Harry Ree stated-Lancaster losses were heavy due to the fact that German night fighters successfully penetrated the bomber stream. Is this a case of being hit on the way out and on the way back? Would it have been this flak or the night fighters that brought her down?-any way of knowing? Cheers Mark
Mark RAF records that the aircraft was brought down before the target area by flak in the region of Aachen on the run in to the Ruhr Valley industrial area.The target, Wesseling was a synthetic oil plant and a strategic target that was raided at intervals throughout the war.The loss of the aircraft would have been ascertained from captured Luftwaffe Ack Ack records and collaborated by F/L D.C Saunders,the only survivor, on his debriefing after his liberation as a POW. It is interesting to look at the background to this exceptional Bomber Command loss. During 1943-1944.the German air defences went through several stages of improvement culmanating in the increase of twin engined aircraft of the latest Junkers 88 types from 550 units to 775 units in the first 6 months of 1944.During this period increased armament was introduced with 30mm forward cannon and 20mm upward firing cannons being installed on night fighters.From early warning measures,instead of waiting for target predications,fighters were fed into the bomber streams as early as possible and by early in the new year of 1944,German night fighter units were entering the bomber streams over the North Sea.In addition the German flak defences in the Ruhr area were strengthened by the withdrawal of Flak Divisions from the Eastern Front and other locations where the Allied Air Forces had had little impact in order to support the defence of the synthetic oil plants. Wesseling was an important synthetic oil plant and thus was heavily protected by Luftwaffe Ack Ack units.Consequently, both day operations by the USAAF and night operations by the RAF suffered from these measures. For instance the USAAF sustained flak damage to 209 aircraft out of 766 aircraft sent to bomb the Leuna oil plant in November 1944.(daylight operations) On the raid of 22 June 1944,out of 38 Lancasters lost ,15 were brought down by night fighters,only 2 are recorded as falling to flak,the remainder are recorded as crashes from whatever reason or missing untraced which usually implies a crash at sea.Offshore Ack Ack defences and night fighters would be the likely reason. Both No 44 Squadron and No 619 Squadron operating out of Dunholme Lodge lost 6 aircraft each that night.This represents approximately a third of the aircrew on that operational station,given that each squadron would have approximately 16-18 Lancasters each on charge.Apart from the operational challenge over enermy territory,Dunholme Lodge was within the flying circuit of Scampton,3 miles to the west and with the 2 Lancaster Squadrons operating out of Scampton,the flying circuit was perilous when on a maximum effort,something like 60 Lancasters could be operating amongst the two airfield circuits either bombed up, taking off for a raid or returning from a raid.For this reason,Dunholme Lodge was shutdown from Bomber Command operations and put on to "care and maintenance" in November 1944.
