Leo Wilton, (R165360) was a rear gunner in the 514th RAF

I am researching my family tree. My uncle, Leo Wilton, (R165360) was a rear gunner in the 514th RAF, who was killed over Berlin on the night of 02 Dec 43. The death notification letter received by my grandparents was from Wing Commander, A.J. Samson who indicated that "Pilot Officer Hughes, captain and pilot" of the flight was successful in their bombing run but was attacked by an enemy fighter. The plane was severely damaged and my uncle was killed instantly. Captain Hughes was able to return to base. My uncle is buried in Cambridge City Cemetary, Cambridgeshire.

I am wondering if there is anyone who knew him or can tell me anything about that mission or what type of Lancaster that was, as I see 3 types were used during that time.

Thank you.

 

According to this they were using Lancaster II
No.514 Squadron RAF

RAF History - Bomber Command 60th Anniversary

Former RAF Waterbeach

Avro 683 Lancaster - Great Britain

 

Hi Ron,
I also lost an Uncle on the same raid from 103 sqn....

Details of the raid are as follows:-
The Route was from home base to Mablethorpe then over the North Sea to Holland and then on into Germany. The force that night consisted of 458 aircraft, 425 Lancasters, 18 Mosquitoes and 15 Halifaxes. The plan of attack for this raid was to be similar to previous raids. Four Mosquitos would drop flares to the south of Berlin as a feint attack; four others would drop metallic anti-radar strips and bombs.
The pathfinders dropped red target markers and sky-markers using the ground mapping H2S radar on the target itself.

The forecast winds were different from those that the crews encountered, which led to several crews flying south of track and arriving late on target, this led to the red target markers being slightly scattered. On the final 60 miles to the target, the crews had to pass through the ferocious flak and nightfighters of Hannover, Brunswick, Magdeburg and Brandenburg.
There was a noticeable concentration five miles south east of the intended aiming point, these were backed up by the next green target markers.

This now fully marked target was attacked by over two thirds of the main force aircraft. This resulted in a reasonably concentrated raid over fifteen square miles 5 miles south south east of the intended aiming point. The main stream was over the target from 20:04 until 20:20. This means that over 20 planes per minute were over the target, so it is not surprising the number of ‘incidents’ with friendly aircraft.

Flak, searchlights and night-fighters attacked the aircraft, but 361 managed to hit the primary target and a further 14 attacked alternatives. Thirty-one aircraft had technical problems and had to abort whilst another 12 returned for miscellaneous reasons such as crew sickness and icing of the wings. Icing was a serious problem due to a large cloud front that hung over the North Sea. The casualties were 40 aircraft missing, flak damaged 53, and night-fighters got another 8. Both flak and fighters damaged three and another 15 were damaged due to non-enemy action! Almost 1700 tons of bombs were dropped, 840 tons of high explosive and the rest incendiary.

The final run in to the target was a very harrowing experience for the crews. It was described as twenty minutes of fighter flares with a bomber blowing up every few minutes. Two Lancasters from the same squadron collided over the target but managed to limp home.

The report from Berlin states that the attack was scattered over a wide area of southern Berlin and that some serious damage was caused to industrial areas with two Seimens factories, a ball bearing factory and several railway installations being badly hit. It also lists 136 buildings being destroyed and 36 people killed and a further 100+ as ‘missing’. The final German report called a ‘Schlussbericht’ for this raid in particular is missing from the archives.

Don't know about Lancaster II's but my uncle was on Lancaster III's and his particular setup for the night was as follows.... Details from 103 squadron Air 27/280 are as follows:-
Route out:- 5320N 0016E -> 5250N 0330E -> 5235N 0440E -> 5238N 1004E -> 5236N 1220E -> target

Route back:- 5230N 1350E -> 5255N 1350E -> 5238N 1004E -> 5235N 0440E -> 5250N 0330E -> 5320N 0016E ->base

Bomb load 1140 x 4lb incendiaries plus 90 'x' type and 1850 gallons of fuel

Planes that made it took off around 17:00 and returned around 23:00-00:00 approx

 

Welcome Ron. If I understand correctly captain Hughes managed to fly back with a criplled Lancaster with six crew instead of seven. We have a great Veteran from 514 Squadron who is a regular poster on this forum. No promise here , but he possibly knew Captain Hughes or your uncle Leo Wilson.

 

Thank you for that information. I apologize for this late acknowledgement. I am just now following up on my post to this website. I sincerely appreciate your time.

Ron Wilton

 

Hello Ron I answered your question in a visitor message on your profile page.