CREW MEMBER PROFILE

Surname:

WEBB

First Name/s:

Ernest William

Service No/s:

1816523

Service:

RAFVR

Branch:

Air Gunner

Awards:

1939-1945 Star, France & Germany Star, 1939-1945 War Medal

Return

SERVICE RECORDS

Date

Event

Aircraft Flown

19 Dec 1944

Joined No. 576 Squadron, 'B' Flight at Fiskerton, Linconshire.

Lancaster

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).

06 Oct 1942

Transferred to the Reserve, pending call-up.

15 Mar 1943

Called up at No. 1 Air Crew Reception Centre, Lord’s Cricket Ground, St John’s Wood, London.

03 Apr 1943

PACTW (acronym n/k).

16 Oct 1943

No. 5 Initial Training Wing (ITW), Castle Chambers, Torquay, Devon.

25 Feb 1944

Air Crew Despatch Centre (ACDC), Heaton Park, Manchester, Lancashire on the books of No. 51 (Training) Group Pool.

28 Feb 1944

Remustered as Under Training Pilot/Navigator/Air Bomber II (u/t PNB II).

29 Apr 1944

No. 31 RC Wing (acronym n/k).

17 May 1944

Remustered as Under Training Air Gunner 5 (u/t AG 5).

26 May 1944

No. 2 Air Gunners School (AGS), Dalcross, Inverness-shire, Scotland.

Anson tbc

01 Jun 1944

No. 10 Air Gunners School, Walney Island, Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire. Date tbc.

Anson tbc)

18 Jul 1944

Awarded Air Gunner’s (AG) badge, promoted to Sergeant and remustered as Air Gunner.

01 Aug 1944

No. 28 Operational Training Unit (OTU), Wymeswold, Leicestershire; joins R R J Young crew.

Wellington

15 Oct 1944

Nos. 11/71 Base, Lindholme, Yorkshire; administrative Base for Nos. 1 & 7 Group heavy bomber conversions

16 Oct 1944

No. 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU), Blyton, Lincolnshire.

Lancaster

14 Feb 1945

Dresden; lost in PD232 UL-O2, aged 19

Mid-air collision in the early hours of 14 Feb 45, enroute to the target with 405 Sqn, PB183 LQ-C, both aircraft fell to earth 3 miles apart at Remlingen and Wurzberg. O2 possibly came down in Wilsdufferstrasse, Inner Altstadt, Dresden. Only survivor was the pilot of LQ-C.

Initially buried in Remlingen Civil Cemetery but later reinterred on 10 Oct 47 at Durnbach War Cemetery, plot 1.J.8

“IN LOVING MEMORY OF OUR DEAR SON, WHO DIED FOR KING & COUNTRY. GOD'S WILL BE DONE”

Lancaster

576 Squadron FLYING RECORDS

Date

Aircraft

Code

Flight Details

T/O

Land

Flt Time

Crew

31 Dec 1944

NF976

UL-Z2

OSTERFIELD

1505

2105

6h00

P1   Plt Off R.C. Sowerbutts
P2   
FE   Plt Off M.D. Groundwater
AB   Fg Off H.J. O’Connor
NAV  Sgt H.W. Porter
WOp  Flt Sgt H.J. Knightbridge
MUG  WO J.J. Hiscocks
RG   Sgt E.W. Webb

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.'

07 Jan 1945

NG273

UL-Y2

MUNICH

1840

0310

8h30

P1   Fg Off R.R.J. Young
P2   
FE   Sgt K.G. Greathead
AB   Fg Off H.N. Cheeseman
NAV  Sgt G.R. James
WOp  Sgt D.P. Bannister
MUG  Sgt H.E. Ward
RG   Sgt E.W. Webb

NOTES:

Target: Industrial and transport areas. Load: 1x 4000lb 'cookie', 1320x 4lb incendiaries

15 Jan 1945

ME801

UL-N2

ZEITZ - TROGLITZ

1745

0135

7h50

P1   Fg Off R.R.J. Young
P2   
FE   Sgt K.G. Greathead
AB   Fg Off H.N. Cheeseman
NAV  Sgt G.R. James
WOp  Sgt D.P. Bannister
MUG  Sgt H.E. Ward
RG   Sgt E.W. Webb

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.

22 Jan 1945

PD232

UL-O2

DUISBERG

1645

2200

5h15

P1   Fg Off R.R.J. Young
P2   
FE   Sgt K.G. Greathead
AB   Fg Off H.N. Cheeseman
NAV  Sgt G.R. James
WOp  Sgt D.P. Bannister
MUG  Sgt H.E. Ward
RG   Sgt E.W. Webb

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.

01 Feb 1945

PD232

UL-O2

LUDWIGSHAFEN

1600

2240

6h40

P1   Fg Off R.R.J. Young
P2   
FE   Sgt K.G. Greathead
AB   Fg Off H.N. Cheeseman
NAV  Sgt G.R. James
WOp  Sgt D.P. Bannister
MUG  Sgt H.E. Ward
RG   Sgt E.W. Webb

NOTES:

Target: Marshalling yards, factories and enemy troop positions. Load: 1x 4000lb 'cookie', 1620x 4lb incendiaries

02 Feb 1945

PD232

UL-O2

WIESBADEN

2035

0310

6h35

P1   Fg Off R.R.J. Young
P2   
FE   Sgt K.G. Greathead
AB   Fg Off H.N. Cheeseman
NAV  Sgt G.R. James
WOp  Sgt D.P. Bannister
MUG  Sgt H.E. Ward
RG   Sgt E.W. Webb

NOTES:

Target: Built-up area where large amounts of enemy troops were resting. Load: 1x 4000lb 'cookie', 1604x 4lb incendiaries

07 Feb 1945

PD232

UL-O2

KLEVE

1910

0015

5h05

P1   Fg Off A.H. Young
P2   
FE   Sgt K.G. Greathead
AB   Fg Off H.N. Cheeseman
NAV  Sgt G.R. James
WOp  Sgt D.P. Bannister
MUG  Sgt H.E. Ward
RG   Sgt E.W. Webb

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.

07 Feb 1945

PD232

UL-O2

KLEVE

1910

0015

5h05

P1   Fg Off R.R.J. Young
P2   
FE   Sgt K.G. Greathead
AB   Fg Off H.N. Cheeseman
NAV  Sgt G.R. James
WOp  Sgt D.P. Bannister
MUG  Sgt H.E. Ward
RG   Sgt E.W. Webb

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

08 Feb 1945

PD232

UL-O2

POLITZ

1905

0405

9h00

P1   Fg Off R.R.J. Young
P2   
FE   Sgt K.G. Greathead
AB   Fg Off H.N. Cheeseman
NAV  Sgt G.R. James
WOp  Sgt D.P. Bannister
MUG  Sgt H.E. Ward
RG   Sgt E.W. Webb

NOTES:

Target: The IG Farben synthetic oil plant. AP: 5333.5N 01444.5E. Load: 1x 4000lb ‘cookie’, 10x 500lb bombs.

13 Feb 1945

PD232

UL-O2

DRESDEN

2125

FTR

uk

P1   Fg Off R.R.J. Young
P2   
FE   Sgt K.G. Greathead
AB   Fg Off H.N. Cheeseman
NAV  Sgt G.R. James
WOp  Sgt D.P. Bannister
MUG  Sgt H.E. Ward
RG   Sgt E.W. Webb

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.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

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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. 

PHOTOS & DOCUMENTS

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