Sunday, February 4, 2024

Remembering the crew of Halifax B.II JB803

At 23:53 on the 30th of April, 1943 No 77 Squadron Halifax B.II JB803/KN-G piloted by Sergeant Gordon Watson took off from RAF Elvington. Its target that night was Essen, a German city in the Ruhr industrial area. The Battle of the Ruhr was in full swing.

The aircraft

The Handley Page Halifax was a four engined heavy bomber in use with the RAF from 1940 until 1952 and was broadly comparable to the more famous Lancaster bomber. The Halifax B Mark II was powered by the legendary Merlin engine of Spitfire and Hurricane fame. 1,966 Halifax B.II's were built, not only by Handley Page but also by other manufacturers. Later versions of the Halifax used the Bristol Hercules engine that proved to be a better match to the Halifax airframe than the Merlin. 

JB803 was an English Electric built Halifax B Mark II and was delivered from their Preston factory to the RAF somewhere between the 21st of February 1943 and the 1st of March 1943. After acceptance it was used almost immediately. Known missions of JB803 are:

11/03/1943    Stuttgart raid

21/03/1943    Essen raid

29/03/1943    Berlin raid

02/04/1943    Lorient raid

03/04/1943    Essen raid

04/04/1943    target unknown

08/04/1943    Duisburg raid

10/04/1943    Frankfurt raid

14/04/1943    Stuttgart raid 

16/04/1943    Pilsen raid

20/04/1943    Stettin raid

26/04/1943    Duisburg raid

27/04/1943    Mine laying

28/04/1943    Mine laying

30/04/1943    Essen raid

The crew

JB803 carried a mixed Royal Air Force/Royal Canadian Air Force crew of seven that night:

Pilot Sergeant Gordon Watson, RAF Volunteer Reserve service number 1383608

Flight Engineer Sergeant Ian Douglas Crawford RAF service number 634710

Navigator Flying Officer Arthur Edward Parsons RCAF service number J/11636

Bomb Aimer Sergeant Leon Hannam RAF Volunteer Reserve service number 1383305

Wireless operator/Air Gunner Sergeant William Robert Louth RAF Volunteer Reserve service number 1198324

Mid Upper Gunner Sergeant Raymond Shepherd RAF Volunteer Reserve service number 929961

Tail Gunner Flight Sergeant Thomas Deuel Scarff RCAF service number R/95040

The mission

Watsons crew was going back to the Krupp factory in Essen. After takeoff from RAF Elvington at 23:53 Watson steered JB803 towards Cottesmore Light and proceeded afterwards to North Walsham, Happisburgh and Egmond before heading to Essen. After reaching their target they would return via Egmond and Hornsea and land back at Elvington. It was their 13th mission as a crew (with the exception of Louth who was on his sixth flight with Watsons crew and Shepherd who was on his fourth). Their Halifax was loaded with two 1,000 lb general purpose bombs and thirteen incendiary bombs of two types.

After crossing the Dutch coast line they were intercepted by a Messerschmitt Bf-110 night fighter from 11./NJG 1 flown by Feldwebel Heinz Vinke, Feldwebel Karl Schödel and Unteroffizier Johann Gaa. Vinke and his crew were based at Bergen airfield on the Dutch coast that night. Vinke located the Halifax and shot it down. Vinke was a night fighter ace, racking up 54 kills before he and his crew themselves got shot down and killed whilst flying Bf-110G-4 werknummer 740136 by Flight Officer Hardy in a Hawker Typhoon on February 26th, 1944.

Watson ordered his crew to bail out and all but Scarff and Watson himself did so. They died when their bomber crashed and exploded at the Noordpolder near Muiden, the Netherlands at 02:26 on May 1st, 1943. The rest of his crew landed in the cold water of the IJsselmeer lake and never made it to shore.

Watsons crew lies buried at the Muiden General Cemetery with the exception of Sergeant Louth. His body was never recovered.


The memorial

The current memorial for the crew of Halifax B.II JB803 was erected at the Zuidpolderweg at the site where the Halifax crashed in 1943. It was unveiled on September 5th, 2020. Each year at May 1st the local community gathers at the memorial to remember Watson and his crew.


All photos shot with a Canon EOS 1000N fitted with a Canon EF 24-85mm f/3.4-4.5 USM lens, Agfaphoto APX 400 blackd and white film, developed in Adonal and scanned with an Epson Perfection V850 Pro. 



2 comments:

  1. Impressive story with appropriately moody photographs. This strange time really comes to life for me the way you tell it.

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