419 Squadron RCAF 1941 to 1945 Crew of Halifax W7817

Crew of Halifax W7817 VR-A

By February 27th of 1943, F/O Charles J.L. Vaillancourt's crew had completed it's crewing up and training, they were then posted to 419 squadron. Vaillancourt completed three operations as 2nd. pilot, March 1st, March3/4 and March 9/10, but it would not be until April before the crew would be on an operation together.

P/O Vaillancourt's (later F/O) original crew were:
Navigator P/O D. Grimshaw
Flight Engineer Sgt. A. Jaynes
Bomb Aimer Sgt.Norman Douglas RAF
WAG Sgt. K.S. Hart
Air Gunner Sgt. J.L. Peck
Air Gunner (rear) Sgt. Fredrick Thomas Stanley

During all their operations the crew was to fly in W7817, except on the second operation together to Frankfurt where they were assigned VR-H. It would be on this flight that the WAG Sgt. K.S. Hart became very ill and P/O Vaillancourt had to return to base where Hart was rushed to hospital. On all of the crew's remaining missions Sgt. A.S. Morrison was to be their Wireless/Operator/Airgunner.

W7817 let's them down

Three more successful operations were carried out by the crew into the German industrial areas with W7817. But on the night of April 27/28 while on a "Gardening" operation off the Dutch coast, the GEE equipment which was needed to lay the mines in the proper pattern, had packed it in ten minutes after takeoff. Hoping that it could be fixed while on route to the descignted area, they flew on towards the enemy coast. No matter what they tried the GEE would not operate correctly. So rather then continue to fly dangerously around in the dark at 2,000 feet above the waves as dark as all the sky around them, the pilot brought W7817 back to base. The operation would not count towards the thirty needed to complete a tour.
Two days later, in the cold found in the late April skies at 22,000 feet, W7817's wings began to ice up heavily as it proceeded to Essen. The continuing loss of speed made the decision to lighten the load and return to base the only option. And once again their effort was not counted towards the tour total.

The Ninth Try

On his ninth time out while flying towards the German defences around Dortmund , the crew were attacked from the rear my an Me110 night fighter. They were completely unaware of it's presence until it's first pass at them. The guns of the enemy fighter hit the rear gunner, most likely killing him before he could fire on the fighter or to give the command to corkscrew. The F/E Sgt. Jaynes was knocked out by the force of an oxygen bottle near him exploding. His situation was see by the Navigator P/O Grimshaw but he was unable to do anything about it before another attack took place.

The second pass by the fighter knocked out the intercom, inner port engine and started a fire near the rest position on the Halifax. With the wings starting to catch fire the signal to bail out was passed by the crew. All the crew managed to escape the falling Halifax, with only the fatally wounded rear gunner Sgt. Fredrick Thomas Stanley having to be left behind.
The crew managed to elude capture for a number of days before being turned in to the German authorities by local villagers. Four of the survivors, Jaynes, Morrison, Peck and Douglas during the later days of the war were moved from camp to camp, at times as part of forced marches were the weather, malnutrition and other human factors took a deadly toll on the prisoners.
In his later days before he passed away in July of 2014, Norman Douglas, who like so many other veterans never talked about their war time experiences mentioned that the deaths during the forced marches as "the worst part " of his PoW ordeal.
For the squadron it was the first of three successive Rhur Valley operations were two aircraft were lost each night.
On this night May 4/5, Halifax DT794 was also lost.

Crew of Halifax W7817 VR-A

W7817 let's them down

The Ninth Try

Sergeant

Frederick Thomas Stanley

Rear Gunner Age 20
Killed in Action May 5th 1943
From Vancouver B.C.
Burial Zwolle (Dekranenburg) General Cemetery, The Netherlands

Sergeant

Norman Douglas RAF

Bomb Aimer
PoW # 1126 Stalag Luft I and others in Lithuania and Pomerania
From Darlington, Durham England

Flying Officer

Charles Joseph Leonard Vaillancourt

Pilot, 12th Op.
PoW #1284 Stalag Luft III

Sergeant

Angus Jaynes

Flight Engineer, 7th Op.
PoW #1141 Stalag Luft I/VI/IV

Pilot Officer

Donald Grimshaw

Navigator 7th Op.
PoW # 1265 Stalag Luft III

Warrant Officer II

Angus Stewart Morrison

WAG
PoW #1151 Stalag Lufts I/VI/IV

Warrant Officer II

James Lonnie"Tex" Peck

Air Gunner
PoW #1155 Stalag Lufts I/VI/IV

Crew of Halifax W7817 VR-A

W7817 let's them down

The Ninth Try

Sergeant

Frederick Thomas Stanley

Rear Gunner Age 20 Killed in Action May 5th 1943 From Vancouver B.C. Burial Zwolle (Dekranenburg) General Cemetery, The Netherlands

Sergeant

Norman Douglas RAF

Bomb Aimer PoW # 1126 Stalag Luft I and others in Lithuania and Pomerania From Darlington, Durham England

Flying Officer

Charles Joseph Leonard Vaillancourt

Pilot, 12th Op.PoW #1284 Stalag Luft III

Sergeant

Angus Jaynes

Flight Engineer, 7th Op.PoW #1141 Stalag Luft I/VI/IV

Pilot Officer

Donald Grimshaw

Navigator 7th Op.PoW # 1265 Stalag Luft III

Warrant Officer II

Angus Stewart Morrison

WAGPoW #1151 Stalag Lufts I/VI/IV

Warrant Officer II

James Lonnie"Tex" Peck

Air Gunner PoW #1155 Stalag Lufts I/VI/IV

Rear Gunner Age 20
Killed in Action May 5th 1943
From Vancouver B.C.
Burial Zwolle (Dekranenburg) General Cemetery, The Netherlands

Bomb Aimer
PoW # 1126 Stalag Luft I and others in Lithuania and Pomerania
From Darlington, Durham England

Pilot, 12th Op.
PoW #1284 Stalag Luft III

Flight Engineer, 7th Op.
PoW #1141 Stalag Luft I/VI/IV

Navigator 7th Op.
PoW # 1265 Stalag Luft III

WAG
PoW #1151 Stalag Lufts I/VI/IV

Air Gunner
PoW #1155 Stalag Lufts I/VI/IV