R.A.F. Units in D-Day landings on Omaha Beach

I regret to inform the forum that ‘Dr D’ - Les Dobinson - died recently (20th May). The notification came through the RAF Fighter Control Association of which Les was an honorary member.
The obituary, as posted on the site is as follows:

It is with great sadness that I have to post another notice about the death of one of our special WW2 veterans Dr Les Dobinson who died on the 20th May.

Les Dobinson was a radar/signals technician who was posted to an MSSU which supported a number of ASAC units which took part in Operations Neptune and Overlord. Les landed on 'bloody' Omaha beach on D +3 to discover that 21 BDS and 15082 GCI had suffered very heavy casualties and lost a great deal of their equipment in the landing. One of the dead was a particular friend of his. Les served with the MSSU for the whole campaign to defeat the German tyranny in Europe.

After the war Les followed a career in engineering attaining a Phd in Applied Science. Les was bemused as to why the story of the RAF landings on Omaha beach and especially the ultimate price paid by so many RAF personnel and the courage and fortitude that had been shown by members of the units that resulted in a number of awards for valour had all been lost in the mists of time. He single handedly took it upon himself to enlist the help of the local town and French organisations dedicated to preserving the history of D Day to raise a memorial at Vierville sur Mer. The memorial was unveiled in June 2012 and remains the only RAF memorial in the assault area. It was for this work that Les was admitted to the association as an honorary member. I had the privilege to be with Les throughout the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of D Day where he was the guest of honour at a moving ceremony at Vierville sur Mer.

Les was a lovely man who dedicated a lot of time and effort to ensuring the story of 21 BDS and 15082 GCI would live on and for this as well as his vital role in maintaining the operational equipment we owe him a great debt.

 

Condolences to Dr D's family form all of us

 

Hi

I have this morning received a copy of my late Grandfather's service records and I can see he was posted to 16 AFS.

We've always known he was part of the Signals and was in the second wave of the D day landings. However, when trying to search for his unit today, I've discovered that there is a considerable lack of information regarding his unit.

My Grandfather was a great storyteller, so as a child we listened to various stories about the war. However, as you can imagine it was very much edited.

We know that he was given a special task (as he described it to us as children) upon landing in France and that there were 13 people in his boat, including a team of commando's (my grandfather's description) on board. From what I recall, he played a part in connecting the communications or possibly radar across Northern France?

We also know that he stayed in France and eventually went onto possibly liberate or assist at Belson. He very rarely spoke of this.

I'm just wondering if there is anyone that can assist in helping me piece together his story please?

I've read a couple of articles regarding the 16 AFS on Omaha, would anyone know if the whole unit was deployed to this beach?

Many thanks

Jennie

 

Hi Jennie

Not sure I can answer your question for sure, but possibly provide some information. Sorry it's taken me so long, I completely forgot about this site! My father was in 15053 GCI/FDP, a mobile radar unit that landed on Sword on D-Day and then was part of XXX Corps as it advanced across Europe. Soon after D-Day it was joined by it's "sister" unit 15054, and they seem to have leapfrogged each other, one being operational, the other on the move - except for Arnhem where they both set up in Eindhoven. The OC of 15054 wrote a short memoir called "Off to war with 054", and this is where I got a lot of information about my father's route across Europe, as he never talked about it (for example he took me to see "A Bridge Too Far" soon after it came out, and didn't even mention that he was in Eindhoven at the time). I mention this for two reasons. There were obviously other signals and RAF personnel moving with these two radar units, and perhaps your grandfather was one of these. Secondly, one thing that was in the book was their arrival at Belson, which is why your comment particularly resonated. Perhaps this was when he first encountered the area. Of course, Belson may be one of the main reasons my father never wanted to discuss his experiences, because how can you comprehend such a thing? No doubt there were many British troops that passed through the area, but perhaps your grandfather was with one of the mobile radar units.

 

Hi there. Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. My father was also in 15053, and I have some documents regarding his service with the unit. For example I have their combat log, which shows all the intercepts that resulted in enemy aircraft shot down or damaged. It also shows where they were an when. If you add to that information you can get from a small book called "Off to war with 054" you get a good picture of what went on. The book was written by the OC of 15054, the sister unit of 15053 and much of their activity is the same. The couple of days in Eindhoven were quite spectacular! I have always meant to go to Kew to get more details about the unit, because I believe they have some relevant information. Do you get any information or keepsakes from your grandfather? Regards, Alan.

 

Hello there

Found your post years after you made it! On the off chance you are still around (and by the Ukraine flag you may be), I wonder if you can give me a gist of the information you obtained on 15053 GCI/FDP? Reason being that my father was in that unit. Always meant to get to Kew one day to see what they have, but not got round to it yet.

Many thanks, Alan

 

Hello there!

Really interested to hear anything you have on 15053 FDP/GCI. My father was also a member! Though he maintains he landed on D-Day itself. I wonder if they had a staggered landing, with an advance team going ahead on D-Day? Anyway, was going to go to Hendon and/or Kew one day to find out what I can find out. But meanwhile anything you have would be interesting. I have the combat log of the unit showing where they were each day, and the aircraft they intercepted. The book "Off to war with 54" was also interesting, written by the OC of 15054 that took the same route as 15053, but became active a while after.

Many thanks
Alan

 

With all due respect to your father, I think he may be mistaken (memory is far from infallible). My understanding is that the only two GCI units whcih went ashore on 6th June were 15083 which landed on GOLD Beach, and 15082 - of course - landing on OMAHA. From what I can se here (RAF "FDP/GCI" units - Axis History Forum) 15053 went ashore across SWORD Beach. It seems unlikely that two such units would go ashore on D-day itself and that chain suggests they landed on D+1. However, I'm speculating. Either way, you might find this interesting, if you've not already seen it:
Association of Royal Air Force Fighter Control Officers
I'm an RAF Fighter Controller, so these good people are part of my heritage. Can I ask: is your fathers till alive? If so, I know that folks from our branch would be interested in speaking to him (and offering him membership of our Association (free to veterans))

 

Alan Rose , I've also found this: Who knew the RAF were on Omaha Beach on D-Day?! [Archive] - PPRuNe Forums
'vimhawkraf' keeps popping up - might be worth trying to contact him as he seems to have done a little digging / perhaps has a bit more info / may have got into the National Archives. You will see that he is adamant that 15053 did land on D-day itself which is really interesting.
Alan Rose is another name who pops up, here for example (with info on 15053 deploying at Eindhoven 25 Sep 44): https://www.quora.com/Would-Operati...h-tactical-air-support-Typhoons-Marauders-etc

I think that's all I can say at present. I have a copy of 'CD116. The Second World War 1939-1945 Royal Air Force: Signals Vol V - Fighter Control and Interception' issued by the Air Ministry in 1952. It makes a couple of references to numbers of intercepts achieved by 15082 and 15083 and others, but nothing obvious on 15053 - reference to units themselves are few and there's no index, so at 290 pages it's hard to pick through!

If you find out any more, please do let me know!

 

Sorry, perhaps due to my age I didn't even realise I had been a member of this site before. I promise it was purely unintentional and not for nefarious purposes, but I am "vimhawkraf" as well as Alan Rose. Apologies for any unintended confusion. And I do maintain 15053 landed on D-Day because it says so in their combat log of which I have my father's copy. However it could perhaps have been an advance party, scouting out locations to set up their equipment. And unfortunately I haven't been to Kew yet, but I certainly will one day!

 

Doesn’t worry me, Alan - no problem at all - I’m getting on, so I know how easy it is! . I just find it really interesting. I read ‘Off to War with 054’ years ago and that really peaked my interest, though I’ve done no research. I did serve a tour on No 1 Air Control Centre which was our mobile radar capability from about 1997 until a few years ago. Sadly, although the ‘name badge’ is still used, the unit is really immobile again! I’m largely retired from the RAF, but I’m fairly sure we’ll rue the day one day when we - yet again - realise we need a mobile capability. Sadly, all the lessons learned - the hard way - by us when we first reformed 1 ACC will be long forgotten and they’ll have to start all over again! Sorry - bit of a rant!
Anyway, good luck with your ongoing search and please keep us up to date.