ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 70295
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| Date: | Saturday 23 December 1944 |
| Time: | 13:00 |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito B Mk XVI |
| Owner/operator: | 109 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | ML998 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Jüchen near Cologne. -
 Germany
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Little Staughton, Bedfordshire |
Mosquito ML998: Took off for bombing mission on Cologne's Gremberg Marshalling yards. 23/12/1944
Shot down ower the target area by a night fighter. This aircraft was shot down on an "Oboe leader" raid on Cologne's Gremberg Marshalling yards on the afternoon of 23/12/1944.
It was a formatation of Lancasters from 582 Sqn led by an Oboe equipped Lancaster of 582 Sqn with a 109 Sqn pilot and navigator doing the Oboe bombing run. ML998 was the Oboe reserve and followed the formation leader in case his Oboe equipment failed. This was a disasterous op with half the formation being shot down. S/LDR Bob Palmer was awarded a post-humous VC for leading the formation to the target with 2 engines on fire and marking the target perfectly before going down. Crew ML998 took many hits but followed S/Ldr Palmer into the target as they were detailed to do in case Palmer had an Oboe failure. The aircraft exploded with one engine feathered and the other on fire as they reached the target, 100 feet behind Palmer.
Crew:
F/Lt (J/4918) Eric Charles CARPENTER (pilot) RCAF - killed
P/O (145181) William Thraves LAMBERT (nav.) RAFVR - killed (NCO:656228 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 22 June, 1943)
The formation was over Cologne's Gremburg rail yard at 17,000 ft. when Carpenter & Lambert in ML998 were hit at about 1pm along with the 5 Lancasters from 582 Squadron.
Heroic Endeavour describes how Russell Yeulett, the rear gunner and only survivor in the lead Lancaster flown by S/L Palmer of 109 Squadron was quite close to Carpenter's Mosquito in the final moments of the Oboe run and could plainly see Carpenter in ML998. ML998's job was to stick with the lead Lancaster and take over the lead of the formation if the Oboe set failed on on the lead aircraft and Carpenter & Lambert stuck with Palmer to the end. Near the end of the run when Yeulett looked over at ML998, he saw one engine of the Mosquito was out & the other engine was on fire. Carpenter looked up at Yeulett and waved as if to indicate everything was ok, Yeulett waved back and at that moment ML998 exploded. Yeulett then felt his own aircraft heading toward the ground and heard the order to abandon the aircraft. Yeulett was the only one to get out alive. The aircraft in the formation that survived released their bombs on seeing on Palmer's bombs being released at 12:58 - 12:59 hrs.
Sources:
1.http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txtt
2.ORB 109 Sqdn RAF
3.Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 06-Dec-2009 12:00 | NePa | Added |
| 30-Jan-2012 14:40 | Nepa | Updated [Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 30-Nov-2012 03:49 | Nepa | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 02-Jul-2014 13:46 | Shout | Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
| 09-Sep-2015 10:20 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Narrative] |
| 05-Sep-2018 19:05 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Source, Operator] |
| 29-Apr-2019 17:21 | Nepa | Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator] |
| 20-Dec-2021 15:45 | Anon. | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 30-Jun-2022 18:33 | Nepa | Updated [Source, Narrative, Operator] |
| 02-Aug-2022 10:29 | Rob Davis | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 02-Aug-2022 12:30 | Nepa | Updated [Source, Narrative, Operator] |
| 04-Aug-2022 18:30 | Rob Davis | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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