Crew of Lancaster KB779
November 7th, 1944 was the arrival date of F/O Hyndman and his crew, they had completed their Heavy Conversion
course at No. 1664C.U. at Base61 and were ready to take on the task they had trained for.First off was for Hyndman to complete his 2 sorties as 2nd. Pilot before the crew could take part in a squadron operation.
From the beginning of November when they arrived until November 21st when they could then work together as an operational crew they took part in squadron exercises. Flying bombing practise runs and flying night time cross country flights to gain experience and to meet the squadron Navigation Leader's expectations. It also gave the crew a good look at the surrounding country side for navigation identification purposes.
The first operation went smoothly except the route picked out proved to be bringing them quicker then expected to the target and Hyndman had to dogleg along the way so his aircraft would not arrive ahead of time. This would have given the crew's navigator F/O Cheesman a busy time, keeping track of the path they were following and ensuring the aircraft ended up at where they wanted to be and on the time expected to be there. He would also have to make sure they did not cross into heavily defended areas as they made their way.
Although they made it to the target at the allotted time as the bomber stream was systematically making their bomb runs it did not mean they made it through without any problems. The shrapnel thrown out by the flak punctured two holes in the inside the bomb bay doors while they were on their bombing run. The flak holes were not large, measured as one inch by four inch and one and half inch by two inch.
December 2nd. Hagen
December 1944 weather has extremely bad and it was hampering operations for 419 Lancasters. F/O Hyndman and crew flying KB804, VR-E were one of the worst affected by the severe icing while proceeding to Hagen. The ice on the fuselage was so built up that the aircraft lost all lift abilities. The Lancaster fell from 16,000 feet down to 3,000 feet before the pilot could regain controlThe icing seemed to have also damaged parts of the aircraft which one would not think of being damaged by exterior icing. The aircraft's intercom system, camera and the important DR compass all were unserviceable. Without the DR compass the pilot Hyndman and navigator Cheesman would have to rely on standard compasses and keep each other informed of what their compasses each was reading. Between them and with the help of the Flight Engineer they returned VR-E home safely.
December Operations
The crew were listed on the Battle Order of December 4th as "Spare" and the following night the Battle Order shows they were "Scrubbed"The next operation was set for December 6th. the weather was still horrible. Sixteen Lancasters from Moose squadron were to take part in the night operation. It is recorded that 18 bombs remained hung up in the bomb bays of various Moose aircraft because of the cold. A dangerous situation for the crews carrying them. The cold weather would have caused electrical contacts to contract and loose connection to the fusing circuits and release mechanisms. The crews would not know if they had properly set them back to SAFE mode or not. Aircraft had been lost when they bumped down for landings with bombs still hung up in the racks.
What exactly happened to the crew on that night may never be known, icing conditions, enemy action or bombs not released.
Dates given for their deaths vary in different references as either the 6th or 7th. I listed them all as the 6th. here.
F/O Gordon Cheesman
