Personnel Index - Detail

Name
RICHARD
First Names
Clarence Edwin
Rank
F/Sgt
Service
RCAF
Service Number
R154916
Crew Position
Air Gunner
Age
24
Date of Death
11/04/1944
Cemetery

 

Photographed by Bruno Gielis



Image courtesy of the Veterans Affairs, Canada website (via Alain Trouplin)

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49Sqn Association

Clarence 'Al' Richard and Cliff Coward (at Cliff's home).

11/12 April, 1944; AACHEN:

This was Aachen's most serious raid of the war and was delivered by 341 Lancasters led by 11 PFF Mosquitoes. The centre and southern parts of the town received heavy bombing and the air-raid services soon lost control.
A total of nine Lancasters were lost on the operation. One of those reported missing came from 49 Squadron. F/Lt Don Bacon and crew were highly experienced; having survived since November 43 including the Battle of Berlin, many on the unit felt sure they would pass the finishing post to complete an excellent tour. But luck always plays a part, and theirs ran out in the night sky over Belgium at the hands of night fighter ace Major Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer ('The Ghost of St Trond'); the Bacon crew was his 52nd victim.

Lancaster LL899 (EA-P)
F/L D.J. Bacon DFC Pilot (Killed)
Sgt J.P. Hennessey F/E (Killed)
P/O C.W. Coward NAV (Killed)
Sgt P. Monck W/OP (Killed)
Sgt S.W. Weedon A/G (Killed)
F/O N. Melnick RCAF B/A (Killed)
F/S C.E. Richard RCAF A/G (Killed)

Crew on their 23rd operation.

There is a small memorial in the church at Sint Lenaarts, Belgium to commemorate this crew.