Aircraft
Handley Page Halifax III
Serial Number
LV900
Take off Station
Leconfield
Day/Night Raid
Night (1% moon)
Operation
Berlin. 811 aircraft, 72 losses (8.9%). Known as the 'night of the strong winds', a very powerful wind from the north tended to push the aircraft south at every stage of the operation. As a result, the bomber stream became very scattered, allowing fighters to pick off stragglers, although 50 of the aircraft Lost were hit by flak. Around 20000 were bombed out but no industrial premises were hit. This was the last major raid on Berlin of the war.
Extracts from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 643, 647-8
Halifax LV900 took off from RAF Leconfield at 1851 hours on the night of 24/25th March 1944 to bomb Berlin. The bomb load 6 x 8 x 30 SBC, 6 x 90 x 4 IB. It was later established from German records that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed about 4 kms north of Werne, 11kms north north west of Nordhausen. All the crew members were killed.
Reason for Loss
Shot down by a night-fighter on the return leg and crashed near Nordhausen, Germany
Crew Killed
BATH, Victor William (F/S)
CUMMINGS, Ronald Irving (F/S) and remembered in Australia Here
HUGHES, Harold (Sgt)
IVESON, Edwin (F/O)
ROBERTSON, Ross Lange (F/S)
SMITH, Henry Francis (F/S)
STRATHEARN, James Hadden (Sgt)
Aircraft
Handley Page Halifax III
Serial Number
LV900
Take off Station
Leconfield
Day/Night Raid
Night (1% moon)
Operation
Berlin. 811 aircraft, 72 losses (8.9%). Known as the 'night of the strong winds', a very powerful wind from the north tended to push the aircraft south at every stage of the operation. As a result, the bomber stream became very scattered, allowing fighters to pick off stragglers, although 50 of the aircraft Lost were hit by flak. Around 20000 were bombed out but no industrial premises were hit. This was the last major raid on Berlin of the war.
Extracts from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 643, 647-8
Halifax LV900 took off from RAF Leconfield at 1851 hours on the night of 24/25th March 1944 to bomb Berlin. The bomb load 6 x 8 x 30 SBC, 6 x 90 x 4 IB. It was later established from German records that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed about 4 kms north of Werne, 11kms north north west of Nordhausen. All the crew members were killed.
Reason for Loss
Shot down by a night-fighter on the return leg and crashed near Nordhausen, Germany
Crew Killed
BATH, Victor William (F/S)
CUMMINGS, Ronald Irving (F/S) and remembered in Australia Here
HUGHES, Harold (Sgt)
IVESON, Edwin (F/O)
ROBERTSON, Ross Lange (F/S)
SMITH, Henry Francis (F/S)
STRATHEARN, James Hadden (Sgt)
Gravesite Details
Flight Sergeant, Royal Australian Air Force. Age: 21.
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