F/O Ronald S McAra RAFVR and crew – 576 Squadron – RAF Elsham Wolds – 1943
Failed to Return - 16/17th December 1943 – Lancaster III – DV342 – Op Berlin
Ronald McAra and his crew were posted to the newly formed 576 Squadron from Heavy Conversion Unit in Late November 1943 and lost on their first operation.
They took off from RAF Elsham Wolds in Lancaster DV342 at 16:27 hours on an operation to Berlin. It is reported that this aircraft were attacked by a night fighter, caught fire and exploded in mid air. Wreckage fell in the Lichtenberg area of Berlin which is the eastern part of the city. All the crew were killed with McAra, Barrett, Blackmore, Harris and Western are missing and commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial and Russom and Chapman were killed and now rest at the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery.
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Geoffrey Livingstone Blackmore
Malcolm George Western
F/O Ronald Stenhouse McAra RAFVR - Pilot – 22 – 576 Sqn - Son of Alexander McAra and Christian Philp McAra (née MacLaren) of Dundee, Scotland – Runnymede Memorial.
Sgt Jack Leslie Barrett RAFVR - 576 Sqn – Runnymede Memorial.
F/S Cyril Chapman RAFVR – Air Bomber – 21 – 576 Sqn - Son of G.A. Chapman and Clara Chapman of Bradford Moor,Bradford,Yorkshire – Berlin 39-45 War Cemetery, Germany.
F/O Geoffrey Livingstone Blackmore RAAF – 20 – 576 Sqn - Son of Walter Livingstone Blackmore and of Olive Eileen Blackmore of Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia – Runnymede Memorial.
F/S Eric Russom RAFVR – Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - 23 – 576 Sqn - Son of Cecil Ernest and Emily Russom, of Leeds, Yorkshire – Berlin 39/45 War Cemetery, Germany
F/S Malcolm George Western RAAF ( pictured above ) - Air Gunner – 20 - Marion, South Australia - Son of Hedley and Dora Annie Western of Marion, South Australia – Runnymede Memorial.
F/S Albert Alfred Harris RAAF – Air Gunner – 33 – 576 Sqn - Son of Alfred and Florence Harris; husband of Eva Olive Harris of Adelaide, South Australia - Runnymede Memorial.
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16 Dec 43 – Berlin – Germany - Night – 8 aircraft bombed this target again from between 20,000 and 23,000ft. F/S F Scott and crew collided in mid air with F/S V Richter and crew from 103 Squadron soon after take off. Both crews were killed. Conditions were bad on return and caused W/O Bassett to crash land at Wickenby. 1 aircraft failed to take off and F/O McAra and crew failed to return. All others landed at base except F/S Henningham who landed at Waltham.
( 483 aircraft. Target marked with reasonable accuracy through cloud but the bombing was scattered and this was not a successful attack. Returning bombers encountered very low cloud and 29 crashed or were abandoned over the UK)
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Lancaster DV342
This aircraft was lost on its first operation with 576 Squadron
It has flown 3 ops ( one cancelled ) with 103 Sqn as shown below :-
22-Nov-43 – Berlin – Lancaster – DV342 – F/S EC Nicholls
23-Nov-43 – Berlin – Lancaster – DV342 – F/S HT Griffin – DNTO - Cancelled due to high winds which caused some aircraft to swing on take off
26-Nov-43 – Berlin – Lancaster – DV342 – P/O L Young – ER - Reason unknown.
Len Young pictured below on the left with 3 of his crew.
Item compiled by David Fell with Western photo courtesy of Mr Adams and the Young photo from my own archive. Blackmore photo courtesy of the family
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