Crew of Lancaster KB814
"Nuts 2 U"
The story of the crew of VR-N , KB814 is tragically short. There is very little information on the men who made up the crew of P/O Charles Parrish.
They arrived at 419 on February 26th 1945 along with seven other new crews. Parrish's 6 man crew were posted from 76 Base where they had completed Heavy Conversion training.
It wasn't until March 1st that Parrish was to receive his 2nd Pilot training and not until March 11th that the crew flew together on their first operational sortie. They completed a sortie on the night of 14/15th of March. Then their final operation on the night of 15/16th to Hagen. It was over Hagen that the squadron first encounters the newest enemy fighter the Me262 jet.
There is no mention of Lancaster VR-N nick named "Nuts-2-U" , being brought down by one of the jets that attacked the formation that night. Although it has been suggested in other sources as the cause of the loss of the aircraft.
Their aircraft was brought down over the Rhine at 2045 hours near Muchengladbach, only a little over four hours into the sortie. The first news heard after they were reported missing was that F/S Ginter and Sgt. Bowman had been found after they had parachuted to safety. Interrogation of these two airmen revealed that the pilot F/S Parrish, WAG F/S Vickery and rear gunner F/S Bredin were killed, but they knew nothing of what happened to F/O Hennessey and Sgt. Bristow. At some point later the bodies of Hennessey and Bristow were located.
F/S Parrish was listed initially as missing and notices in the Hamilton paper listed him that way. A few days later the same papers announced his death. Parrish had enlisted in December of 1943 and had posted overseas in March of 1944 after receiving his Wings at Uplands base in Ottawa. He had a brother serving as a Petty Officer in the RCNVR overseas.
In the photo the number of sorties completed shows as eight. KB814 was lost on its eleventh operation. Of the first eight operations the F/O C.J. Widdecome crew flew six of those operations. The men in the photo could be part of the Widdecome crew.
There is no information on the other airmen. And we would like to find out more about these men.
The original burial of the four airmen was at the US Military Cemetery at Margraten, post war they were re-interred at Nederweert War Cemetery.
