Sgt Ron Dawson DFM RAFVR - 103 Squadron - 1944 - Air Gunner.
P/O L J L Green RAFVR and crew - 103 Squadron - 1944
Crashed on return - 28/29th July 1944 - Lancaster III - PA985 - Op Stuttgart
Ron Dawson was born in Chadwell Heath, Essex on 23 June 1924. He was a member of the Air Defence Cadet Corp (6F Squadron) and then later became the Adjutant of the 6F ATC.
In 1942/3, Ron attended the Air Crew Receiving Centre in London (Stockley Hall) and went on to obtain his ITW (Initial Training Wing) in Bridlington. He attended Elementary Air Gunner School at RAF Bridgnorth, Shropshire, followed by joining Air Gunnery School (12 AGS) at Penross, N.Wales.
Ron joined 18 Operational Training Unit based at RAF Finningly, Doncaster and had his first taste of flying in Wellingtons while based here.
He was then stationed at RAF Bawtry, where he was stationed with members of the Polish OTU and continued flying in Wellingtons up to the fatal day when all of his then crew were killed in a crash. By fortune, Ron was ill in military hospital when his first crew perished so avoided a similar fate.
Ron was then re-crewed and was posted to 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit 1662 at Blyton.
His new crew consisted of:
Jimmy Green (Pilot) RAFVR
Jack Sweet (Wireless Op) RAFVR
Pete Thomas (Navigator) RAFVR
Ron Dawson (Mid-Upper Gunner) RAFVR
Johnny Freebairn (Bomb Aimer) RCAF
Taffy Jones (Flight Engineer) RAFVR
Vince Yates (Rear Gunner) RAFVR
In March 1944, Ron and his crew attended Lancaster Finishing School at RAF Hemsell, nr Gainsbrough before being posted to RAF Elsham Wolds as part of 103 Sqn a month later.
Ron’s first flight in the Lancaster ( PA985 ) while stationed at Elsham was a cross-country flight on 29 April 1944, followed by his first Operational flight ( an abortive mission to Orleans, France ) on 19 May 1944.
This was followed by a further sortie two days later to Duisburg and Ron recalls “We arrived at the target a little early and had to circle. While circling, we sighted enemy aircraft for the first time, but thankfully they didn’t spot us. We were able to complete our mission and got out of there as quick as possible”.
Throughout their term, the crew had many memorable experiences, but one that remains vivid in Ron’s memory is the night of 28 July 1944.
On that night, the crew of PA985 were on a sortie to Stuttgart when they came under heavy fire. In the ensuing battle, they managed to loose 2 engines and came under attack from 2 enemy aircraft. It was during this battle that Ron and his co-gunner Vince Yates managed to destroy the enemy aircraft and as a result, they were both awarded the DFM (immediate).
Having been badly shot-up, the skipper had no choice but to jettison the bombs and instruct the navigator to head them straight home using the quickest path. Ron recalls that on this perilous journey back to base, while still over Germany, they were surprised to see a German airfield mistakenly turn on the runway lights as they approached. The skipper expressed his frustration that they had previously jettisoned, as it would have been a nice surprise for them.
As they limped back to England, they were told to stand-by to bail out and things were particularly bad over the Channel where the skipper had to radio in using the call ‘Darky – Darky’. The Lancaster managed to make it across the Channel as far as RAF Little Horwood..
Upon reaching the runway at Little Horwood, the skipper realised that they were approaching too fast to land and asked the crew whether he should go round and approach again which given the state of the plane was very risky or whether he should just get the plane on the ground.
To a man, the crew agreed to get down as quick as possible and the skipper thumped the plane onto the runway without wheels down in order to grind to a halt as rapidly as possible. Ron still recalls the severity of the impact to this day and has a clear memory of the plane scraping across the runway and into a field.
All of the crew survived and amazingly there were no bad injuries, just badly shaken bodies and cuts & bruises. The whole Crew were very lucky to survive this night.
The next day, Sgt. Marsh flew the crew of PA985 back to base.
A new Lancaster Bomber (PD236) was assigned and the sorties continued.
Another mission that sticks out in Ron’s mind was that of 12 August 1944. In a daytime trip that saw them bombing the U-boat pens at Bordeaux. Before take-off, the skipper, Jimmy Green, managed to misplace his sunglasses and as Ron already had his goggles, he agreed to lend his sunglasses to Jimmy.
Approaching from the Bay of Biscay, they came under intense fire and were badly shot up. During this attack, the skipper was injured when flak shattered the cockpit and glass flew into his face. If it hadn’t been for the sunglasses, things could have been a lot worse for Jimmy. Taffy Jones the engineer was also injured in this attack and Ron recalls “the plane dropped like a stone and began losing altitude quickly. One of the mosquito escorts came down with the plane and stayed with it until somehow they managed to get it back on an even keel”.
Having managed to get the plane back to base, even though badly shot-up, the skipper was loathed to let Ron have his sunglasses back as he reckoned that he could get at least a few beers on the back of the tale of how they probably saved his sight.
At the end of 1944, Ron became an Instructor (turrets) at Air Gunnery School (12 AGS) based in Bishops Court, Northern Ireland after having passed his training at RAF Manby, Lincolnshire. One of his pupils during his time here was the now Lord Richard Attenborough.
Written by Kevin Dawson.
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Additional background information
Green crew tour:-See below
19-May-44 - Orleans Lancaster - NE136 - P/O LJL Green – Early return – Port inner engine unserviceable
21-May-44 - Duisburg - Lancaster - NE117 - P/O LJL Green
22-May-44 - Dortmund - Lancaster - ND632 - P/O LJL Green
24-May-44 - Aachen - Lancaster - LM538 - P/O LJL Green
27-May-44 - Aachen - Lancaster - ND381 - P/O LJL Green
02-Jun-44 - Calais - Lancaster - ME773 - P/O LJL Green
03-Jun-44 - Wimereaux - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
05-Jun-44 - St-Martin-de-Varreville/Crisbec - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
06-Jun-44 - Vire - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
09-Jun-44 - Flers - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green - Bombed at low altitude to avoid an aircraft above.
12-Jun-44 - Gelsenkirchen - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
14-Jun-44 - Le Havre - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
16-Jun-44 - Sterkrade - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
17-Jun-44 - Aulnoye - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green - Aborted by Master Bomber due to cloud cover over target. Jettisoned long delay bombs & returned to base
22-Jun-44 - Mimoyecques - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
23-Jun-44 – Saintes - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
25-Jun-44 - Flers Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
04-Jul-44 - Orleans-les-Aubrais - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
05-Jul-44 - Dijon Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
07-Jul-44 - Caen Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
12-Jul-44 - Revigny Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green - Diverted due to rain and low cloud at base
14-Jul-44 - Revigny Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green - Aborted by Master Bomber due to cloud cover over target. Jettisoned long delay bombs. Diverted
17-Jul-44 - Sanneville - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
18-Jul-44 - Scholven Buer - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
20-Jul-44 - Wizernes - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
23-Jul-44 - Kiel - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
24-Jul-44 - Stuttgart - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
28-Jul-44 - Stuttgart - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green - Crashed while trying to land at Little Horwood. Very badly damaged by a night fighter. No injuries reported.
10-Aug-44 - Dugny - Lancaster - PD236 - P/O LJL Green
11-Aug-44 - Douai -Lancaster - PD236 - P/O LJL Green
12-Aug-44 - Bordeaux - Lancaster - PD236 - P/O LJL Green
15-Aug-44 - Le Culot - Lancaster - PD236 - P/O LJL Green
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28-Jul-44 – Stuttgart
This attack is described in the Stuttgart 28/29th July 1944 Article in the relevant section here.
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Lancaster - PA985
This machine gave good service and was lost on its 28th operation. Most of these were with the Green crew.
03-Jun-44 - Wimereaux - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
05-Jun-44 - St-Martin-de-Varreville/Crisbec - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
06-Jun-44 - Vire - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
09-Jun-44 - Flers - Lancaster - PA985 – W/O JJ Rabchak RCAF
09-Jun-44 - Flers - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green - Bombed at low altitude to avoid an aircraft above.
12-Jun-44 - Gelsenkirchen - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
14-Jun-44 - Le Havre - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
16-Jun-44 - Sterkrade - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
17-Jun-44 - Aulnoye - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green - Aborted by Master Bomber due to cloud cover over target. Jettisoned long delay bombs & returned to base
22-Jun-44 - Mimoyecques - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
23-Jun-44 - Saintes - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
25-Jun-44 - Flers - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
28-Jun-44 - Chateau Benapres - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O HR Anthony
29-Jun-44 - Domleger - Lancaster - PA985 - F/O JPD Bartleet
30-Jun-44 - Oisemont Neuville au Bois - Lancaster - PA985 - F/O JPD Bartleet
02-Jul-44 - Domleger - Lancaster - PA985 - F/O JPD Bartleet
04-Jul-44 - Orleans-les-Aubrais - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
05-Jul-44 - Dijon - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
07-Jul-44 - Caen - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
07-Jul-44 - Caen - Lancaster - PA985 - F/O JPD Bartleet
12-Jul-44 - Revigny - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green - Diverted due to rain and low cloud at base
14-Jul-44 - Revigny - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green - Aborted by Master Bomber due to cloud cover over target. Jettisoned long delay bombs. Diverted
17-Jul-44 - Sanneville - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
18-Jul-44 - Scholven Buer - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
20-Jul-44 - Wizernes - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
23-Jul-44 - Kiel - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
24-Jul-44 - Stuttgart - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green
28-Jul-44 - Stuttgart - Lancaster - PA985 - P/O LJL Green - Crashed while trying to land at Little Horwood. Very badly damaged by a night fighter. No injuries reported.
Item compiled by David Fell
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