Date:	Thursday 3 February 1944
Time:	14:15
Type:	Martin Marauder II
Owner/operator:	24 Sqn SAAF
Registration:	FB478
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Suda Bay, Crete -   Greece
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
24 Sqn SAAF was selected as the first South African squadron to be converted to Marauder and flew their last raid with their beloved Bostons on 8 November 1943 from Tortorella near Foggia Main, Italy. Later that month 120 squadron members proceeded to Telergma, Algeria for the conversion course. On 12 December 1943, the squadron received its first four Marauders. It was on this day that the advance party of 24 Sqdn arrived at Gambut, which was a base roughly half way between Tobruk and Bardia.

On 26 January 1944 the O.C. Lt Col. J.N. (Jack) Robbs, DFC landed at Gambut from Italy with fourteen Marauders. Five days later, on the 31st, the first operation was flown when six Marauders bombed shipping at Stampalia west of the island of Kos.

On 3 February 1944 six Marauders of the squadron took off from Gambut 3 airfield for a raid on the seaplane base of Suda Bay, Crete. During the attack the Marauder II FB478 ’T’ (ex-41-35515) of the unit’s commanding officer, Lt-Col J N Robbs DFC, took at 1415 hrs a direct hit by Flak at 10,000 feet over Suda Bay. The shell hit aft of the bomb bay and blew the complete tail section off, sending the aircraft spinning down out of control. Two parachutes were seen. A photograph of this Marauder going down was deemed to be a freak photograph since it showed an apparently whole Marauder flying below the formation whereas closer inspection showed that the tail section was upside down and several hundred feet above the aircraft.

The squadron feared the worst, but Lt-Col Robbs and his co-pilot, Lt R. K. Townsend, both managed to bail out, and were captured and sent to an hospital in Athens before being moved to Germany. The four other crew were all killed.

Crew:
Lt-Col John Norman "Jack" Robbs DFC SAAF 102713V (pilot) POW
Lt R K “Dick” Townsend SAAF 279516V (co-pilot) POW
Capt Norman Maitland Watermeyer SAAF 207152V (observer) KIA
Lt Adrian Nelson DFM SAAF 102091V (wireless operator/air gunner) KIA
Lt Norman Clarence Scott-Winlow SAAF 104067V (wireless operator/air gunner) KIA
Plt Off Joseph Alexander Goyer RCAF J/85926 (wireless operator/air gunner) KIA

Watermeyer, Nelson, Scott-Winlow and Goyer are all buried in Suda Bay War Cemetery. Robbs and Townsend were both reported POWs in Athens hospital on 2 April 1944.

"Eagles victorious: The operations of the South African forces over the Mediterranean and Europe, in Italy, the Balkans and the Aegean, and from Gibraltar and West Africa", by Henry James Martin and Neil D. Orpen. ISBN: 0868430080
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?5797-Lieutenant-N.-C.-Scott-Winlow-SAAF-KIA-3-Feb-44
http://aviationarchaeology.gr/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Martin-B26-Marauder-losses-in-Greece-1943-1945.pdf
http://avcom.co.za/phpBB3//phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=72460&start=45
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35439/supplement/502/data.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souda_Bay

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Feb-2017 22:48	Laurent Rizzotti	Added