F/O Thomas C Dawson RAFVR and crew – 576 Squadron - RAF Fiskerton – 1944
Failed to Return - 22/23rd October 1944 – Lancaster II – PD467 – Op Essen
Thomas Dawson hailed from Bingley, Yorkshire which is a town I know well. He was a married man and must have enlisted 41/42 and trained in Canada. Along with his crew he will have been posted to 576 Squadron around the end of September 1944 or early October 1944.
This crew were lost on their 3rd op. See tour details below :-
15/10/1944 - Wilhelmshafen - LM594 - P/O TC Dawson
19/10/1944 - Stuttgart - PB467 - P/O TC Dawson
22/10/1944 - Essen - PB467 - P/O TC Dawson - FTR - Lost without trace.
All this crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial to the Missing.
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F/O Thomas Clough Dawson RAFVR - Pilot - 22 - 576 Sqn - Son of Robert and Sarah Ann Dawson; husband of Norah Dawson of Bingley, Yorkshire - Runnymede Memorial
Sgt William John Stockwell RAFVR ( pictured below ) - Flight Engineer - 28 - 576 Sqn - Son of William John and Elizabeth Florence Stockwell; husband of Bridgett Alice Stockwell of Worcester Park, Surrey - Runnymede Memorial.
Sgt Ernest Gedling RAFVR - 21 - 576 Sqn - Son of Robert and Naomi Gedling of West Derby, Liverpool - Runnymede Memorial
Sgt James Sidney Shearing RAFVR - 23 - 576 Sqn - Son of James Gilbert Shearing and Emily Maud Shearing of Verwood, Dorsetshire - Runnymede Memorial
Sgt Alexander Stewart RAFVR - 576 Sqn - Runnymede Memorial
Sgt George Alexander Fergus RAFVR - 576 Sqn - Runnymede Memorial
Sgt Alexander George Murray RAFVR - 576 Sqn - Son of Alexander Ross Murray and Margaret Murray of Nethy Bridge, Inverness-shire - Runnymede Memorial.
Sgt William John Stockwell RAFVR
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Both 103 and 576 ORBs report moderate heavy flak barrage in target area and some search lights below cloud but no night fighters were seen.
Impossible to say the reason for the loss. Mechanical issue or other accidental cause seems likely. May have gone down in target area and obliterated in the bombing or in the sea on the way back. Who knows.
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18 aircraft detailed. Crews reported 10/10ths cloud at base for take off. This persisted over England and on passing through a front over the Channel the cloud tops rose to 20000 ft. There were some breaks in the cloud after the front but cloud amount built up to 10/10ths again with tops varying from 10-12000 ft. These conditions persisted as far as the Wash on return where the weather cleared.
Bombing was carried out with the aid of red, white and green Wanganui flares which appeared somewhat scattered.
Light heavy flak was encountered in the target area but no fighters were reported.
F/O Dawson and crew failed to return from this operation.
The operation on the night of the 23/24 October 1944 was a notable Bomber Command milestone.
1,055 aircraft - 561 Lancasters, 463 Halifaxes, 31 Mosquitos - to Essen. This was the heaviest raid on this target so far in the war and the number of aircraft dispatched was also the greatest number to any target so far; these new records were achieved without the Lancasters of No 5 Group being included. 5 Lancasters and 3 Halifaxes were lost. 4,538 tons of bombs were dropped. More than 90 per cent of this tonnage was high explosive (and included 509 4,000-pounders) because it was now considered that most of the burnable buildings in Essen had been destroyed in earlier raids. The greater proportion of high explosive, against all the trends in earlier area-bombing raids, was now quite common in attacks on targets which had suffered major fire damage in 1943.
Also that night 38 Mosquitos to Berlin, 10 to Wiesbaden and 2 to Aschaffenburg, 41 RCM sorties, 50 Mosquito patrols, 1 Hudson on a Resistance operation. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 1,197 sorties, 8 aircraft (0.7 per cent) lost.
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Lancaster PB467
This machine was lost on its 24th operation and had been on the strength of 576 Sqn since early August 1944. It was flown mainly by F/L J J Mulrooney and crew.
Item compiled by David Fell. Photo courtesy of the Stockwell family.
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