CREW MEMBER PROFILE |
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Surname: |
WEBB |
First Name/s: |
Ernest William |
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Service No/s: |
1816523 |
Service: |
RAFVR |
Branch: |
Air Gunner |
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Awards: |
1939-1945 Star, France & Germany Star, 1939-1945 War Medal |
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SERVICE RECORDS |
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Date |
Event |
Aircraft Flown |
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19 Dec 1944 |
Joined No. 576 Squadron, 'B' Flight at Fiskerton, Linconshire. |
Lancaster |
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05 Oct 1942 |
Enlisted at No. 27 Aviation Candidates Selection Board, Birmingham, Warwickshire, as Aircraftman Second Class (AC2). Recommended for training as Pilot, Navigator or Air Bomber (PNB) and mustered as Air Crew Hand / Pilot/Navigator/Air Bomber ((ACH/PNB). |
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06 Oct 1942 |
Transferred to the Reserve, pending call-up. |
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15 Mar 1943 |
Called up at No. 1 Air Crew Reception Centre, Lord’s Cricket Ground, St John’s Wood, London. |
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03 Apr 1943 |
PACTW (acronym n/k). |
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16 Oct 1943 |
No. 5 Initial Training Wing (ITW), Castle Chambers, Torquay, Devon. |
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25 Feb 1944 |
Air Crew Despatch Centre (ACDC), Heaton Park, Manchester, Lancashire on the books of No. 51 (Training) Group Pool. |
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28 Feb 1944 |
Remustered as Under Training Pilot/Navigator/Air Bomber II (u/t PNB II). |
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29 Apr 1944 |
No. 31 RC Wing (acronym n/k). |
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17 May 1944 |
Remustered as Under Training Air Gunner 5 (u/t AG 5). |
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26 May 1944 |
No. 2 Air Gunners School (AGS), Dalcross, Inverness-shire, Scotland. |
Anson tbc |
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01 Jun 1944 |
No. 10 Air Gunners School, Walney Island, Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire. Date tbc. |
Anson tbc) |
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18 Jul 1944 |
Awarded Air Gunner’s (AG) badge, promoted to Sergeant and remustered as Air Gunner. |
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01 Aug 1944 |
No. 28 Operational Training Unit (OTU), Wymeswold, Leicestershire; joins R R J Young crew. |
Wellington |
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15 Oct 1944 |
Nos. 11/71 Base, Lindholme, Yorkshire; administrative Base for Nos. 1 & 7 Group heavy bomber conversions |
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16 Oct 1944 |
No. 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU), Blyton, Lincolnshire. |
Lancaster |
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14 Feb 1945 |
Dresden; lost in PD232 UL-O2, aged 19 |
Lancaster |
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576 Squadron FLYING RECORDS |
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Date |
Aircraft |
Code |
Flight Details |
T/O |
Land |
Flt Time |
Crew |
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31 Dec 1944 |
NF976 |
UL-Z2 |
OSTERFIELD |
1505 |
2105 |
6h00 |
P1 Plt Off R.C. Sowerbutts |
NOTES: |
OSTERFELD Marshalling yards Load: Z2: 6x No.15, 5x No.14 Incendiary Clusters, and 120x 4lb incendiaries. All other aircraft: 1x 4000lb ‘Cookie’, 6x 1000lb, and 6x 500lb bombs Combat with ME410. No damage sustained. ORB: 'Approaching the target, Fg Off Sowerbutts in Z2 was followed by a ME410. The mid-upper gunner WO Hiscocks opened fire and the fighter broke away.' |
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07 Jan 1945 |
NG273 |
UL-Y2 |
MUNICH |
1840 |
0310 |
8h30 |
P1 Fg Off R.R.J. Young |
NOTES: |
Target: Industrial and transport areas. Load: 1x 4000lb 'cookie', 1320x 4lb incendiaries |
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15 Jan 1945 |
ME801 |
UL-N2 |
ZEITZ - TROGLITZ |
1745 |
0135 |
7h50 |
P1 Fg Off R.R.J. Young |
NOTES: |
Target: Braunkohle-Benzin synthetic oil plant (low grade MT oil). Load: 1x 4000lb 'cookie', 12x 500lb bombs. Involved in combat with an unidentified aircraft - no claim made. |
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22 Jan 1945 |
PD232 |
UL-O2 |
DUISBERG |
1645 |
2200 |
5h15 |
P1 Fg Off R.R.J. Young |
NOTES: |
Target: Steelwork coking ovens & rolling mills in the Hamborn area of the city and a benzol plant in Bruckhausen. Load: 1x 4000lb 'cookie', 16x 500lb bombs. |
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01 Feb 1945 |
PD232 |
UL-O2 |
LUDWIGSHAFEN |
1600 |
2240 |
6h40 |
P1 Fg Off R.R.J. Young |
NOTES: |
Target: Marshalling yards, factories and enemy troop positions. Load: 1x 4000lb 'cookie', 1620x 4lb incendiaries |
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02 Feb 1945 |
PD232 |
UL-O2 |
WIESBADEN |
2035 |
0310 |
6h35 |
P1 Fg Off R.R.J. Young |
NOTES: |
Target: Built-up area where large amounts of enemy troops were resting. Load: 1x 4000lb 'cookie', 1604x 4lb incendiaries |
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07 Feb 1945 |
PD232 |
UL-O2 |
KLEVE |
1910 |
0015 |
5h05 |
P1 Fg Off A.H. Young |
NOTES: |
Target: Enemy strongpoints. Flown in support of the 1st Canadian Army and the 15th Scottish Division attacking the town. Load: 1x 4000lb ‘cookie’, 16 x 500lb bombs. |
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07 Feb 1945 |
PD232 |
UL-O2 |
KLEVE |
1910 |
0015 |
5h05 |
P1 Fg Off R.R.J. Young |
NOTES: |
Target: Enemy strongpoints. Flown in support of the 1st Canadian Army and the 15th Scottish Division attacking the town. Load: 1x 4000lb ‘cookie’, 16 x 500lb bombs |
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08 Feb 1945 |
PD232 |
UL-O2 |
POLITZ |
1905 |
0405 |
9h00 |
P1 Fg Off R.R.J. Young |
NOTES: |
Target: The IG Farben synthetic oil plant. AP: 5333.5N 01444.5E. Load: 1x 4000lb ‘cookie’, 10x 500lb bombs. |
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13 Feb 1945 |
PD232 |
UL-O2 |
DRESDEN |
2125 |
FTR |
uk |
P1 Fg Off R.R.J. Young |
NOTES: |
Operation THUNDERCLAP. Target: built-up area. Load: 1x 4000lb ‘cookie’, 1180x 4lb incendiaries. At 2125 on the evening of 13 Feb 1945 Roland Young's Lancaster PD232 (UL-O2) took off from Fiskerton to attack the German city of Dresden as part of Operation THUNDERCLAP. The bomber Main Force route took them over the English Channel at Beachy Head to Boulogne then behind Allied lines to a position south of Strasburg where Main Force Lancasters turned North East towards Leipzig. At about 0100 a villager noted that he saw two aircraft collide over the lower Saxony village of Remlingen, 17 Km North of Wurzburg. Both aircraft were travelling in a north-easterly direction when they collided and en-route to the target. Records indicate that the two Lancasters were PD232 and PB183 (LQ-C) of 405 (Pathfinder) Sqn from Gransden Lodge. PB183 was probably a ʺbacker upʺ flying in the Main Force Bomber stream and carrying Target Indicators to reinforce the initial marking. As the aircraft impacted the ground, their bomb loads exploded making craters some 6m wide and scattering their wreckage over a distance of 1 km. The mid-air explosion caused part of one of the Lancasters to be blown 5km northwards where it came down near the village of Birkenfeld. The wreckage continued to burn for several hours and a Luftwaffe detachment arrived from Wurtzburg to guard the wreckage. The Burgermeister stated that he saw 5 engines in the wreckage, but no more. All Young’s crew perished and were buried initially, along with four of the 405 Sqn crew, in the village graveyard of Remlingen. The two Air Gunners, Ward and Webb were only 19 years old. The pilot of the 405 Sqn Lancaster had bailed out and was captured; his crew were carrying an eighth crew member, who also perished. The bodies of four of his crew were never recovered and are remembered on the Runnymede memorial. In Oct 1947 the bodies of the crew were identified in Remlingen village graveyard by Fg Off Bickerton leading a No.3 MREU search team tracing the whereabouts of downed aircrew. They were exhumed and reburied at the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery at Dürnbach. |
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PERSONAL INFORMATION |
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Details |
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Ernest William Webb, the son of George William and Ethel Mary Webb (nee George), was born in Arley, Bewdley, Worcestershire on March 18, 1925. He was the brother of Viola May (1920- 2006), Georgina E, (1922 - 2019) and Lilian Eileen (1928 - ?).
In September 1939, Webb was living with his family at Copes Holding in Arley, Kidderminster, and working as a shop assistant. He was also a member of the Air Training Corps, an organization that trained young men for service in the Royal Air Force.
On February 14, 1945, George William Webb was killed on air operations over Germany during the final months of the Second World War. He was 19 years old. |
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PHOTOS & DOCUMENTS |
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Details |
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