CREW MEMBER PROFILE

Surname:

PEARCE

First Name/s:

Ronald Ernest

Service No/s:

1880404

Service:

RAFVR

Branch:

Flight Engineer

Awards:

Return

SERVICE RECORDS

Date

Event

Aircraft Flown
30 May 1944

No. 11 Base, Lindholme, Yorkshire; administrative Base for No. 1 Group heavy bomber conversions.

01 Jul 1944

1662 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU), Blyton, Lincolnshire OR 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU), Sandtoft, Yorkshire OR 1656 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU), Lindholme, Yorkshire tbc (Halifax/Lancaster tbc)

No. 1 Lancaster Finishing School, Hemswell, Lincolnshire (Lancaster) – only if Lancasters not flown on HCU tbc. Date tbc.

Lancaster
28 Jul 1944

No. 576 Squadron, ‘A’ Flight, Elsham Wolds, Lincolnshire Durrant crew
Ops (17):
01 Aug 44 – Belle Croix des Bruyeres; 2nd dickie with H B Guilfoyle
10 Aug 44 – Dugny
11 Aug 44 – Douai; Returned early: intercom u/s
14 Aug 44 – Fontaine le Pin
15 Aug 44 – Le Culot (Beauvechain)
18 Aug 44 – Wemaers Cappel; hit by flak
25 Aug 44 – Russelsheim
29 Aug 44 – Stettin
03 Sep 44 – Eindhoven
05 Sep 44 – Le Havre; DNTO, not bombed up in time
06 Sep 44 – Le Havre
08 Sep 44 – Le Havre
10 Sep 44 – Le Havre

12 Sep 44 – Frankfurt
15 Sep 44 – Arnholt ‘Silverthorne’; gardening
18 Sep 44 – Leeuwarden
20 Sep 44 – Calais
23 Sep 44 – Neuss; lost in NN711 UL-L2, aged 33
Possibly shot down by Oblt. Lothar Jarsch 4/NJG2 at a height of 3,900m. Crashed at 2020 hrs, 1km SE of Kapellen, Moers, N of Neuss. Crew initially buried at Kapellen Communal Cemetery and re-buried in Oct 47 at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, grave 30.F.15 - 16
PIE JESU DOMINE DONA EIS REQUIEM

Lancaster

576 Squadron FLYING RECORDS

Date

Aircraft

Code

Flight Details

T/O

Land

Flt Time

Crew

10 Aug 1944

LM227

UL-I2

DUGNY (PARIS)

0920

1440

5h20

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Aviation fuel storage depot. Spitfire escort. Load: 13x 1000lb, 4x500lb bombs

11 Aug 1944

ME801

UL-C2

DOUAI

1400

1730

3h30

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Marshalling Yards Load: 13x 1000lb, 4x 500lb bombs Intercom u/s.

14 Aug 1944

ME801

UL-C2

FONTAINE LE PIN BATTLE AREA

1325

1730

4h05

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Enemy positions in Normandy battle area. Flown in support of the 3rd Canadian Division which was advancing on Falaise. Load: 20x 500lb bombs

15 Aug 1944

ME801

UL-C2

LE CULOT (BEAUVECHAIN)

1005

1405

4h00

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Luftwaffe night fighter base Load: 13x 1000lb, 4x 500lb bombs

18 Aug 1944

ME800

UL-W2

WEMAERS CAPPEL

1945

2300

3h15

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Sgt G.J. Brain
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

V1 Launching Site Load: 20x 500lb bombs Had to make 4 bombing runs. Damaged by flak

25 Aug 1944

LM594

UL-A2

RUSSELSHEIM

2015

0520

9h05

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Opel factory for V1 wings & fuselages & built-up area Load: 1x 4000lb ‘Cookie’, 12x500 4lb incendiary clusters.

29 Aug 1944

PD232

UL-F2

STETTIN

2105

0635

nk

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Port Area Load: 1x 4000lb ‘Cookie’, 60x 30lb and 660x 4lb incendiaries Note: S D Thompson RAAF flew his ‘second dickie’ with one of these crews

03 Sep 1944

NN711

UL-L2

EINDHOVEN

1535

1945

4h10

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Luftwaffe airfield. Spitfire escort Load: 13x 1000lb, 4x 500lb bombs One aircraft (unidentified) diverted due to weather.

05 Sep 1944

NN711

UL-L2

LE HAVRE

DNTO

nk

N/A

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Enemy strongpoints & HQ in port area Load: 13x 1000lb, 4x 500lb bombs Not bombed up in time.

06 Sep 1944

NN711

UL-L2

LE HAVRE

1710

2000

2h50

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Enemy strongpoints & pockets of resistance Load: 13x 1000lb, 4x500lb bombs

08 Sep 1944

NN711

UL-L2

LE HAVRE

0640

1010

3h30

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Enemy strongoints to the north of the town & pockets of resistance Load: 13x 1000lb, 4x 500lb bombs 10 Aircraft allocated Aiming Point 12, 5 aircraft allocated Aiming Point 13 Master Bomber instructed crews who had not bombed to return with their bombs due to increasing low cloud cover.

10 Sep 1944

NN711

UL-L2

LE HAVRE

1640

2035

3h55

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Enemy strongpoint ½ mile SW of the Forêt de Montgeon Load: 13x 1000lb, 4x500lb bombs. Port surrenders.

12 Sep 1944

NN711

UL-L2

FRANKFURT

1810

0200

7h50

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Marshaling yards Load: A2 & D2: 10x 1000lb, 1x 500lb bombs All other a/c: 1x 4000lb ‘Cookie’, 14x Type 14 incendiary clusters, 120x 4lb incendiaries One aircraft (unidentified) bombed a Last Resort Target.

15 Sep 1944

NN711

UL-L2

PALLAU, POLWYSEP-HEL, & ARNHOLT

2220

0435

6h15

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Gardening *Mis-spelt in ORBs Load: A2 & B2: 4x 1800lb, 5x 1500lb mines All iother a/c: 4x 1800lb, 6x 1500lb mines Area ‘A’ PALLAU Pillau ‘Tangerine’ 2 a/c Area ‘B’ POLWYSEP HEL Gdynia ‘Spinach’ 6 a/c Area ‘C’ ARNHOLT Kattegat ‘Silverthorne’ 2/ac This aircraft Garden: Silverthorne (Anholt)

16 Sep 1944

NN711

UL-L2

LEEUWARDEN

0040

0415

3h35

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Luftwaffe Airfield (flown in support of Operation MARKET GARDEN) Load: 20x 500lb bombs.

20 Sep 1944

NN711

UL-L2

CALAIS (SANGATTE)

1505

1840

3h35

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Coastal guns & defences Load: 13x 1000lb, 4x 500lb bombs.

23 Sep 1944

NN711

UL-L2

NEUSS

1850

FTR

uk

P1   Fg Off S.F. Durrant
P2   
FE   Sgt R.E. Pearce
AB   Flt Sgt C.J. Brady RCAF
NAV  Fg Off J. Johnstone
WOp  Flt Sgt J.R. McIntyre RAAF
MUG  Sgt J.G. MacKey RCAF
RG   Sgt D. Spowart

NOTES:

Marshalling Yards Load: 12x 1000lb, 4x 500lb bombs. Attacked by Oblt. Lothar Jarsch of 4./NJG2 at 2229 and at 3,500m (also claimed by a flak battery). Crashed at Kappelen, near Duisburg. All the crew were killed and buried initially at Kappelen Communal Cemetery and re-interred on 26 Oct 47 at the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen. 30.F.13 ASLEEP IN GOD'S BEAUTIFUL GARDEN. TOO DEARLY LOVED TO BE FORGOTTEN

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