Hello,
A G Sands S/N 402578 - Enlisted 16 Sep 1940 - Specialty Salesman - RCAF Training Canada 23 Jan 1941 to 30 Jun 1941 - 455 Sqn RAAF Bomber Command 29 Jul 1941 to 30 Nov 1941 (Officially presumed)
Navigator (PO) in Hampden bomber shot down over Germany.
Hampden P1272 took off from RAF Swinderby at 1654 hours on the night of 30 Nov 1941 to bomb the Blohm & Voss Shipbuilding Yards at Hamburg, Germany.
Crew:
RAAF 404264 Sgt Shannon, J (Pilot) 404246 ?
RAAF 402578 PO Sands, A G (Navigator)
RAF 1375139 Sgt Shorey, A C (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
RAF 1258909 Sgt Towers, V E (Air Gunner)
Buried in Ohlsdorf Cemetery, Hamburg, Plot 5A, Row E, Grave 1.
This is curious. The above information may be incorrect in more than just Sgt Shannon's service number. Did they in fact take off from RAF Swinderby?
"The two Polish squadrons continued to operate from Swinderby until July 1941 at which time the station had been passed to No. 5 Group in a general re-allocation of airfields in Bomber Command. No. 50 Squadron was moved in from Lindholme, resuming operations with its Hampdens on July 20 but personnel and equipment for No. 455 Squadron (an RAAF unit which was being re-established in the UK to fly Hampdens) were so long in arriving that its first raid - a single sortie - did not take place until August 29/30."
"Swinderby had been waterlogged the previous winter and was badly rutted from taxying Wellingtons. As a result, the airfield had a priority for the installation of hard runways and in November 1941 the two resident squadrons took their Hampdens to Skellingthorpe so that construction could commence."
Regards,
Dave
A G Sands S/N 402578 - Enlisted 16 Sep 1940 - Specialty Salesman - RCAF Training Canada 23 Jan 1941 to 30 Jun 1941 - 455 Sqn RAAF Bomber Command 29 Jul 1941 to 30 Nov 1941 (Officially presumed)
Navigator (PO) in Hampden bomber shot down over Germany.
Hampden P1272 took off from RAF Swinderby at 1654 hours on the night of 30 Nov 1941 to bomb the Blohm & Voss Shipbuilding Yards at Hamburg, Germany.
Crew:
RAAF 404264 Sgt Shannon, J (Pilot) 404246 ?
RAAF 402578 PO Sands, A G (Navigator)
RAF 1375139 Sgt Shorey, A C (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
RAF 1258909 Sgt Towers, V E (Air Gunner)
Buried in Ohlsdorf Cemetery, Hamburg, Plot 5A, Row E, Grave 1.
This is curious. The above information may be incorrect in more than just Sgt Shannon's service number. Did they in fact take off from RAF Swinderby?
"The two Polish squadrons continued to operate from Swinderby until July 1941 at which time the station had been passed to No. 5 Group in a general re-allocation of airfields in Bomber Command. No. 50 Squadron was moved in from Lindholme, resuming operations with its Hampdens on July 20 but personnel and equipment for No. 455 Squadron (an RAAF unit which was being re-established in the UK to fly Hampdens) were so long in arriving that its first raid - a single sortie - did not take place until August 29/30."
"Swinderby had been waterlogged the previous winter and was badly rutted from taxying Wellingtons. As a result, the airfield had a priority for the installation of hard runways and in November 1941 the two resident squadrons took their Hampdens to Skellingthorpe so that construction could commence."
Regards,
Dave