419 Squadron RCAF 1941 to 1945 Crew of Halifax DT646

Crew of Halifax DT646

On the night of March 5-6 1943 a raid on the Krupps Works near Essen was carried out by Bomber Command. Krupps was one of the major manufacturers of armaments in the world and the defence of the factories by ground and Luftwaffe forces was strong. Fourteen aircraft were lost on this night, Wellington DT646 of Moose squadron was one of them.

The story of what happened is very complete, narrated after his return from captivity Sgt. L Bakewell, told what the crew had experienced that night in March.
As the pilot Sgt. Bakewell explained the starboard inner engine had developed booster problems. With manipulation of controls of the other starboard engine they were able to get power to climb to around 17,000 feet but at a reduced speed. At this height they were subjected to heavy flak defenses while coming in on the target. Bombing had been planned at a altiutue of 11,000 feet and after diving down to this required height and dropping the bomb load the inner engine again began to develope problems and they lost more altiutue. At this point the ground defence searchlights caught the Halifax and light flak threatened the crew and aircraft.

To avoid the flak and get out of the searchlight's beams a bank to the right was carried out which was the opposite to the planned left turn to exit the target area but it brought them out of the reach of the flak batteries. To this point it was no noticable damage had been done to DT646. With bomb load gone and the tempermental inner engine now working better they climbed out and headed for home.

The escape to home was to be interuppted by the sighting of enemy fighters and with the engines exhaust's orange glow highly visible in the dark skies attack would soon follow. Now it was discovered by the rear gunner Sgt. James Couper (RAF) that his rear turret and guns were damaged posibly by the flak attack. This Halifax had for some reason no Middle Upper gun turret and with the only defence left was a forward fireing gun. The crew were fly a series of manouvering exercises to throw off the enemy fighters.

Sgt. Bakewell in the middle of following the rear gunners instructions for one of these defence actions when he heard the roar of a JU-88 fly pass him on to the starboard side with no shots appearing to have been fired. But now a "Wolf Pack" like series of attacks by three JU-88s brought about an end to DT672 with loss of starboard outer engine and fire breaking out and spreading. The bailout order came. Rear gunner F/S Couper was unable to escape the aircraft. All the remainder of the crew had managed to exit the stricken aircraft and became prisoners of war, except for the Flight Engineer A C Turner who became an Evader.

This is a link to Sgt. Turner's Evasion story

Crew of Halifax DT646

Flight Sergeant

James Robert Couper RAF

Rear Gunner Age 21
Killed in Action March 6 1943
From Oxford, Suffolk, England
Rememberance - Runnymede Memorial

Sergeant

A. C. Turner

F/E
EVADER

Flight Sergeant

D. D. Scowen

Navigator
POW # 27657 Stalag 344

Sergeant

L. Bakewell

Pilot
POW # 27630 Stalag 344

Flight Sergeant

J. E. Marvel

B/A
POW #27751 Stalag Luft III

Sergeant

J. A. Bennett

Wireless OPerator
POW #27676 Stalag 344

Sergeant

W. J. Clark

Air Gunner
POW # 27703 Stalag 344

Crew of Halifax DT646

Flight Sergeant

James Robert Couper RAF

Rear Gunner Age 21Killed in Action March 6 1943 From Oxford, Suffolk, England Rememberance - Runnymede Memorial

Sergeant

A. C. Turner

F/E EVADER

Flight Sergeant

D. D. Scowen

NavigatorPOW # 27657 Stalag 344

Sergeant

L. Bakewell

PilotPOW # 27630 Stalag 344

Flight Sergeant

J. E. Marvel

B/APOW #27751 Stalag Luft III

Sergeant

J. A. Bennett

Wireless OPeratorPOW #27676 Stalag 344

Sergeant

W. J. Clark

Air GunnerPOW # 27703 Stalag 344

Rear Gunner Age 21
Killed in Action March 6 1943
From Oxford, Suffolk, England
Rememberance - Runnymede Memorial

F/E
EVADER

Navigator
POW # 27657 Stalag 344

Pilot
POW # 27630 Stalag 344

B/A
POW #27751 Stalag Luft III

Wireless OPerator
POW #27676 Stalag 344

Air Gunner
POW # 27703 Stalag 344