Personnel Index - Detail

Name
SAVILLE
First Names
Bernard John
Rank
P/O
Service
RAF
Service Number
170452
Crew Position
Navigator
Age
34
Date of Death
20/12/1943
Cemetery

 



Image courtesy of Andrew Kavanagh

Photographed by Malcolm Brooke



A plaque created by Sgt Domleo (current location unknown)

20/21 December, 1943; FRANKFURT:

15 aircraft set out from Fiskerton for Frankfurt and German controllers quickly plotted the force of 650 aircraft and night fighters began to take a heavy toll before the bombers were able to reach their target. A total of 41 aircraft failed to return - 6.3 per cent of those dispatched. Over the target, the Pathfinders had not expected the thick cloud cover which now thwarted their pre-planned ground-marking. Added to this, the Germans lit a decoy fire and were using dummy target indicators. Despite all these setbacks, the RAF were able to inflict a good deal of damage to Frankfurt and its outlying townships.
P/O Alf Blackmore (JB467), a 21 year old pilot and holder of the DFC, along with his crew, failed to return to Fiskerton and were reported missing, their aircraft crashed near Hanau. The crew lie at rest together in the Durnbach War Cemetery in Germany.

Lancaster JB467
P/O A.H Blackmore DFC Pilot (Killed)
Sgt T.S. Daniel F/E (Killed)
P/O B.J. Saville NAV (Killed)
Sgt S.V. Domleo W/OP (Killed)
Sgt G.S. Lawn A/G (Killed)
F/S H.T. Evans A/B (Killed)
Sgt P.W. Booth A/G (Killed)

Crew on their 15th operation.



The orginal graves inĀ Langenselbold (before they were moved to Durnbach)



A combat report from this crew for an earlier operation



An earlier image of Bernard Saville taken at his parent's home in Ilford, Essex.
Image courtesy of Andrew Kavanagh - Bernard was his great-uncle