CREW MEMBER PROFILE |
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Surname: |
BANNISTER |
First Name/s: |
Douglas Patrick |
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Service No/s: |
1866838 |
Service: |
RAFVR |
Branch: |
Wireless Operator |
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Awards: |
SERVICE RECORDS |
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Date |
Event |
Aircraft Flown |
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25 Nov 1943 |
Joined 576 Sqn at Elsham Wolds, Linconshire |
Auto loaded with upgrade to v1.0.07 |
576 Squadron FLYING RECORDS |
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Date |
Aircraft |
Code |
Flight Details |
T/O |
Land |
Flt Time |
Crew |
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07 Jan 1945 |
NG273 |
UL-Y2 |
MUNICH |
1840 |
0310 |
8h30 |
P1 Plt 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 Plt 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 Plt 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. |
PERSONAL INFORMATION |
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Personal Records Restricted - not available to the public |
PHOTOS & DOCUMENTS |
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Personal Documents Restricted - not available to the public |