G'day from Australia

[Emac44]

I am just looking at the old photos i have here. 3 in particular. one shows my father standing next to a fusalagre entrance and clearly over his left shoulder you can make out the letters PB and numbers 7 and obscured other number i am presuming is 6. another photo shows my father astride the lancaster facing towards the tail with what i presume are the tops of letters say PO its the starboard side of the aircraft

and of course the photo of POB aircraft in question. I can not understand the reasons to the information you have and i have and photos i have not lining up in information. only thing i could evisage somewhere during the war wrong information was recorded

 

[Emac44]

unfortunately other letters behind the POB are there on the long view of the aircraft but i can not make them out even holding the photo up close. i will try and enlarge photo as best i can

 

[Emac44]

tried to enlarge photo of POB on its own. had a close look at what i thought were more letters. it was either a blemish on the photo or there had been damage to the aircraft and had been repaired. so the mystery is such still a mystery

 

[Emac44]

also looked in further into the OPS Records and it records 2 different crews flew same aircraft on different missions. one would be of duty it appears on one day for example then my dad's crew would be using aircraft a few days later. this i can not explain at all

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i assume the 467 and 463 site you're on about was 467/463 RAF/RAAF WORLD WAR TWO BOMBER SQUADRONS,Lancasters,bombers,sorties,missions,WW2,Waddington,war,memorial ? i too liked that site, a wealth of information!

with regards to the information i would never want to argue with a Operations Record Book! and i'm not arguing that your dad flew PB762, because she did fly with 467, i'm just wondering why my records don't show her as operating under the guise of PO-B, obviously as yours don't it is perfectly pheasable that she never recieved a letter, but she must have recieved a call sign at some point, DV396 is still the last official PO-B as i see it, do the records not give any other clue as to identity?

 

[Emac44]

unfortunately no the book doesn't give more than just PB762 MK1 Lancaster etc flown by my father's crew and on specific date mission and to what occured between take off and mission completion target indicators bomb load etc etc. where other crews flying same aircraft in late march april 1945 that i had no idea about. the conclusion came to me some time later today my time. bomber command under orders from air ministry were to scale back missions as targets were becoming less and less available to be attacked, hence the reason why crews were flying same lancasters that other crews were flying a few days later in that time period. which reminds me of a tale my father told me about Guy Gibson from 617 RAF. Gibson was asked if flying missions over Europe was hazardous? Gibson replied, No it wasn't as the German opposition had deminished greatly. A few days later Gibson was shot down with his crew and all were killed., Sorry bit of track there. the only other information i can get about PB762 is of my father's personal log book which is in my brother's possession. i will ring my brother this weekend as i plan to get the log book of him and copy the log book to my hard drive. just in case something dire happens to the log book we would still have a copy of its contents. another source would be to ring the son of my father's navigator colleague as father and son are more precise with details then i am. yes the navigator is still alive but i would have to get the info from my sister who has all of dad's phone numbers of his old war time friends. the web site that i used a lot was www.467463raafsquadrons.com.au. but as i said it closed and i don't know why

 

[Emac44]

i assume the 467 and 463 site you're on about was 467/463 RAF/RAAF WORLD WAR TWO BOMBER SQUADRONS,Lancasters,bombers,sorties,missions,WW2,Waddington,war,memorial ? i too liked that site, a wealth of information!

with regards to the information i would never want to argue with a Operations Record Book! and i'm not arguing that your dad flew PB762, because she did fly with 467, i'm just wondering why my records don't show her as operating under the guise of PO-B, obviously as yours don't it is perfectly pheasable that she never recieved a letter, but she must have recieved a call sign at some point, DV396 is still the last official PO-B as i see it, do the records not give any other clue as to identity?

look its absolutely fine and ok i didn't think at any stage you was arguing with record book or my late father flying in the lancaster in the squadron 467. its a mystery to me now seeing you raised this but all my father referred to and that of his mates was the aircraft POB Baker. other than that with the photos and official log record book i can only assume that it was POB Baker that had aircraft registration PB762 numbers, i will check dad's log book to see what it says there. maybe a few days before i can do so but i will have a look. by the way my father joined 467 in October 1944 along with his crew mates. that is according to the record book but that i am sure isn't totally accurate as mum and dad married on 1oth july at padgate 1944 and i am sure dad was on active duty prior to October 1944 with the Squadron. dad did his gunnery at Evans Heads NSW in Fairey Battles and Oxfords. It was handy for him actually as dad was a Ballina Boy and Evans Heads was only 50 to 60 miles south of Ballina. any way i will check his log book to ensure dates times and places more precisely and especially aircraft

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

So who recommended you to the site if you dont mind me asking?

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

as i said DV396 was the last recorded PO-B i've got which joined 467 at the same time as your father so it's pheasable this was his first aircraft.............

 

[syscom3]

I am enjoying this fantasticly so. best thing some one recommended me to this site finding other Lancaster fans

I think I remember telling you about this in one of the yahoo political chat rooms.

 

[ma056769]

G'day,
My name is David. I recently joined this website. And I am interested to find out more about the site and the people who use it. As you may have gathered yes I am an Aussie from Brisbane Queensland Australia. I am 47 and the son of a airman who saw service with not only the Australian Army early in WW2 but my father also saw service with 467 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He was a mid upper gunner on a Mk11 type Avro Lancaster.. He was based at RAF Waddington Lincolnshire from 1944 to 1945. 467 RAAF Squadron was attached to 5th Bomber Group. I have some family photographs of a wartime Lancaster and her crew which belonged to my late father. I also have in my possession 467 Squadron records operational accounts from 1943 to 1945 and if any one is interested I can try and copy said details as the ops book is rather large and will not fit on my scanner. But as I said, I do have some photos to share dating from December 1944 and a photo of my father taken in 1973 when he returned back to RAF Waddington for a visit. So please feel free to contact me. I look forward to it

best regards
David

David:
Hows things in Queensland these days. As were coming into our fall season the weather here is getting a bit crisp. Back in your Dads day the important thing was that you were in the fight. Didnt matter what branch. My dad was in the Pacific Theatre from 42 to 45 as a Radio Specialist on a LSAT. As for your Dad OPRECS I'd like to see them.

 

[Emac44]

So who recommended you to the site if you dont mind me asking?

well it appears syscom3 introduced me to the site. i met him in washington watch 2 a yahoo chat room and we began talking about the Lancaster archive i have here about photos record books and log books i can access and he told me about this site and asked me if i would be interested. i admit i was a bit relunctant at first but he seemed generally interested that i had such material on hand and asked me if i was willing to share it with others. few days later joined the site. he contacted me today and asked if i was same person. which i have to admit i am and i am glad he introduced me to this site. not just for the website but it has incouraged me to get all information i have including photos log book etc and transfer it all to disc and hard drive in case it is lost. so syscom actually did me 2 favours in one which i am gratiful for

 

[Emac44]

David:
Hows things in Queensland these days. As were coming into our fall season the weather here is getting a bit crisp. Back in your Dads day the important thing was that you were in the fight. Didnt matter what branch. My dad was in the Pacific Theatre from 42 to 45 as a Radio Specialist on a LSAT. As for your Dad OPRECS I'd like to see them.

things are warming up in queensland and drought conditions to boot. with the record book i managed to transfer a few pages to scanner but being so large its hard to transfer pages per batim, i did manage with few pages i scanned and placed them on web site in my photo album and if you have a look see on profile pic you will see me with this records book and can see its rather large. yes and dad was in the fight from 1940 to 1943 with Australian Army 1943 to 1945 with RAAF. i have some of his early army records. and being typical aussie he played up like a second hand lawn mower in eygpt and middle east but thats a different story hahaha

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

well guys you'll no doubt be glad to hear me and emac have all but solved the mystery!

 

[Gnomey]

What mystery? Or have I just missed something really obvious...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

read through the rest of this topic and you'll see me and Emac have been discussing 467 sqn and more specifically the identity of PB762........

 

[Gnomey]

See it now.

 

[Emac44]

See it now.

Ok the mystery was. Why was there 2 POB Lancasters in 467 Squadron RAAF in late 1944 early 1945 at Waddington. Ok the first POB was Lancaster DV396 which my fathers crew had first flown in their first sortie to Bergen Norway 28/29th Oct 1944. Less then a week later on the 2nd Nov 1944 this same Lancaster was shot down on a Dusseldorf raid but flown by another crew. 3 weeks later my fathers crew were flying the 2nd POB Lancaster for 467 Squadron RAAF and it was POB PB762. They flew the second Lancaster POB PB782 from 26/27th Nov 1944 to a raid on Munich and subsquent missions til end of the war. The early POB as Kick pointed out was that POB DV396 was officially on record books that he had and it was destroyed on a raid. Which is correct it was destroyed. Then i came along with a photo which kick naturally thought was POB DV396 and i said no it isn't it was a photo of POB PB762 and backed this up with the copy of Squadron Operations Record Book. It had as a little perplexed until i discovered a magazine with details of the Log Book of the same navigator who was in my father's crew and there i discovered the 2 aircraft with same POB but with definitely different registration numbers. Now why is this so. i can't tell you as my father is no longer alive and i am unsure if the fellow crew member (Navigator) is still alive either. My best guess what be that my father and his crew mates were supersticious as many other aircrews were at the time. So trusting to faith or luck or what ever they renamed the replacement Lancaster POB PB762 after the original POB DV396 Lancaster which was earlier destroyed. And POB DV396 was officially called signed POB which appears in Kicks records and POB PB762 was a ring in replacement aircraft but was still listed on records for 467 Squadron. Now that is what the mystery was all about. as Kick and myself where wondering why 2 different aircraft same Squadron same crew. One aircraft destroyed yet photo shows it sitting on tarmac in December 1944 when it was suppose to be destroyed nearly a month before. So the mystery has been solved with a little detective work and reading old log books from a friend of my father who served right alongside him so many years ago in 2 different Lancasters with same POB on the aircraft/s

 

[Emac44]

Now can we move unto something else now Kick. One mystery a week is one mystery too many hahaha

 

[Emac44]

Hey Lanc. read further on different reasons to why there were slight inaccuracies to records of fathers exploits during war and official records, i said dad and his mates had done 33 missions, its correct they had done 33 missions, their last mission was to Lutzkendorf Germany Oil refinery 8th/9th April 1945. and then granted leave when they returned powers to be reduced the mission records to 30. it appears my father's crew didn't care as they went on a binge at local pubs on returning to base as war in Europe had just ended shortly after their last and final mission after leave was granted. Must had been some booze up because they also ended up in the various aerodrome messes after leaving the local pubs around Waddington