dogsbody Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Carl Vincent was wondering if anyone has any information regarding the crash of this Polish squadron Wellington at Manston, at the time of the Dieppe Raid? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigster Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 Try contact Wilhelm Ratuszynski via http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.com/. He is running that site (from Canada :-) ), and may have some info. Anyway, he would dig that pix! Zig 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Swindell Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 Looks like it's been recovered after a wheels up landing by the damage. Hawker Henley in the background. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 9 hours ago, zigster said: Try contact Wilhelm Ratuszynski via http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.com/. He is running that site (from Canada 🙂 ), and may have some info. Anyway, he would dig that pix! Zig Thanks, Zig! I'll pass that along. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ossington 2 Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 I've just had a quick shufti in Billl Chorley's "Bomber Command Losses" both the Squadron one for 1942 and the OTU book, but have nothing that matches up. Do you have more details regarding the date/location please? It is definitely Polish though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted May 28, 2020 Author Share Posted May 28, 2020 8 hours ago, Ossington said: I've just had a quick shufti in Billl Chorley's "Bomber Command Losses" both the Squadron one for 1942 and the OTU book, but have nothing that matches up. Do you have more details regarding the date/location please? It is definitely Polish though! All I have and maybe all that Carl has is what he sent to me, to post here for him. His message to me: While going through the photos for the pages in my current Blenheim/Bolingbroke opus which will feature photos of Blenheims with only marginal Canadian connections, I have come across this one. I got the original snapshot more than 40 years ago from the gentleman who was the Engineer Officer of 403 Squadron RCAF for the relevant period. It was taken on or about 13 August 1942 when the unit was detached to Manston in support of the Dieppe operation. It features a Blenheim of 13 Squadron RAF that was involved in smoke laying during the operation. What I am wondering about is the gizmo under the nose which is depicted in the enlargement. Is it some form of smoke laying equipment, a noisemaker or what? I would like to include a little hard information in the caption. The last photo is of a Polish Wellington IV which crash landed at the same place at approximately the same time. Just for curiosity, is there any information available on this aircraft or incident? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Aero Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 300, 301 and 305 Polish Sqn's flew the Mk.IV from Hemswell at this time. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ossington 2 Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 I've just had a quick shufti in Billl Chorley's "Bomber Command Losses" both the Squadron one for 1942 and the OTU book, but have nothing that matches up. Do you have more details regarding the date/location please? It is definitely Polish though! The exploits of 13 Sqn Blenheims for Aug 42 are recorded at TNA in AIR27/181/23 (summary) and AIR27/181/23 (record) it has listed the following Blenheim IV's: Z6089 Z581? V5380 Z5882 Z6??? N3545 Z63?? Z5882 N3612 Numbers are incomplete as I did not download the pages, just viewed the degraded image. (It's FREE while Covid lasts!) V5380 was lost with P/O Woodland & crew. Alas, none of the codes were recorded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted May 28, 2020 Author Share Posted May 28, 2020 All I know is what Carl sent me and that the Wellington was at Manston during the time of the Dieppe Raid. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 (edited) Manston was often used by damaged bombers returning from raids over Europe,......this one has obviously belly landed and it looks like it has been put out on a far reaching dispersal point for assessment or breaking down ready to be sent to the Civilian Repair Organisation. As mentioned,.... the Henley is interesting too,... and the Wimpey appears to be a B.Mk.IV with US Twin Wasp engines. Please say hello to Carl from me too! Cheers Tony PS,...This might be worth checking out? http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.com/305/305_losses.html This would be my guess; 29 Aug. Vickers Wellington no. N1480 (SM-N)After bombing Saanbrüeken, a/c was repeatedly attacked by fighters which set it aflame. On pilot's order three crew members bailed out: P/O Aleksandrowicz and Sgt Cwiklinski safe and POW, while Sgt Kula evaded capture. Convinced that the rear gunner Sgt Rueger was wounded (killed in fact) and trapped in a turret, F/Lt Czolowski and Sgt Seredyn continued the flight and after extinguishing the fire landed safely in Manston. Evasion report: Kula. Edited June 9, 2020 by tonyot 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted June 9, 2020 Author Share Posted June 9, 2020 Thanks, Tony. Info passed on. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ossington 2 Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 Ah Ha! N1480 is not listed in my book. Duly amended. TY 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 No worries lads,..... glad to help where I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
303sqn Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 (edited) That’s the good side of N1460 SM/N (not N1480). On the other side the fuselage fabric was torn off from the wing root back to the tail. On the evening 28/29 August Polish squadrons provided 21 Wellingtons for an attack on Saarbrücken. N1460 was attacked by a fighter that made ten passes before it was shot down. N1460 was then attacked by another fighter that set it on fire and killed the rear gunner, Sgt Stefan Rueger. F/O Henryk Aleksandrowicz (nav), Sgt Mieczysław Ćwikliński (radio op), and Franciszek Kula were ordered to bail out. The first two became PoWs but Kula managed to evade capture and returned to Britain five weeks later. Unable to communicate with the rear gunner skipper F/Lt Tadeusz Czołowski thinking he might be wounded and unable to bale out, continued to fly the Wellington. 2nd pilot Mieczysław Seredyn managed to to put out the fire. The tail was not damaged and the controls still worked. They managed to force land at Manston. The aircraft was repaired and returned to service. My apologies for earlier stating the Wellington was N1460. Two references give this serial number but after further investigation N1460 does not appear to be the correct serial number. There seems to be some confusion over N1460, was it a Wellington or a Whitley? Edited June 9, 2020 by 303sqn 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ossington 2 Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 This is the report from TNA, AIR27/1672/34, Record of service. Spot the wrong registration! https://imgur.com/CawhH5j Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
303sqn Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 (edited) Embarrassingly I have to withdraw my statement. I was fooled by Z1460 being stated as a Whitely. It was in fact a Wellington IV. Interestingly I also found N1480 listed as a Whitely. The accounts given by Cynk, The Polish Air Force at War, and Musiałkowski, Bomber Aircraft of 305 Sq say that the ‘Manston’ Wellington was Z1460/N. Both give lists of the Squadron’s Wellingtons. Cynk lists Z1480/N but does not include Z1460. Likewise Musiałkowski’s list has Z1480/N but also contains Z1460 but with no individual letter. So where does the serial Z1480 association with this Wellington originate? At present I do not know. However, I have found out more about Z1480. It was a 142 Squadron Wellington lost with it’s crew on 17th September 1942 on a mission to Essen. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=z1480 Looking in the squadron’s ORB it is listed on the 9th and 12th of August. Z1460/N first appears in 305 Squadron’s ORB on the 18th August. So if the ‘Manston’ Wellington is Z1480 it would have had to have been transferred to 305 Squadron and then, after crashing at Manston, recovered, repaired and sent back to 142 Squadron in around three weeks. That, I think, highly unlikely. As for Z1460, its career came to an end with 104 OTU when it crashed on 17th July 1943. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=z1460 Edited June 11, 2020 by 303sqn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted June 11, 2020 Author Share Posted June 11, 2020 So, we still don't know which Wellington it was. Okay, thanks for looking, everyone. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagan Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?19834-305-Squadron-Wellington-Prang&p=116066#post116066 This should confirm it as Z1460? Including the DFC Citation for the Pilot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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