Personnel Index - Detail
From the panel at Runnymede
Images courtesy of Anne Waller
(George was her mother's cousin)30/31 May, 1942; COLOGNE (THE FIRST 1,000 BOMBER RAID)
The Squadron was able to detail 13 aircraft, but 1 became unserviceable and had to be withdrawn. The maximum effort required resulted in 83 Squadron borrowing 3 Manchesters from 49's Conversion Flight. With a full moon beginning to rise, 49's Manchesters (along with 13 Lancasters from 83 Squadron) started taking off from Scampton at 22.50hrs. A record 1,047 aircraft were dispatched, of which sadly, a record 41 failed to return.
P/O John Carter (L7429) and crew came down in the North Sea. The crew remain officially 'missing without trace'; they are remembered on the Runnymede Memorial.
Manchester L7429
P/O J.P. Carter Pilot (Missing)
F/S D. Block 2nd Pilot (Missing)
Sgt G.C. Haynes NAV (Missing)
Sgt L.J. Yeates W/AG (Missing)
Sgt M.S. Ash A/G (Missing)
Sgt A.G. Welch RAAF A/G (Missing)
Sgt J.C. Ramsey A/G (Missing)