ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 204609
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| Date: | Wednesday 17 June 1942 |
| Time: | 01:39 LT |
| Type: |  Vickers Wellington Mk III |
| Owner/operator: | 419 (Moose) Sqn RCAF |
| Registration: | X3359 |
| MSN: | VR-N |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | along the Bredabaan, Gooreind, Wuustwezel, Antwerp -
 Belgium
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Mildenhall (takeoff at 23:55 hrs) |
| Essen, Germany |
About 30 minutes out from the target, engine problems developed from the excessive vibration of starboard propeller. The vibration from the propeller damaged bearings and oil seals and soon the engine overheated. With only one other operating engine the Wellington lost most of the ability to hold it's altitude.
Sgt. LeBlanc the aircrafts pilot feathered the engine, and jettisoned the bombs to lighten the load. ( from information gathered more recently, the Wellington may have made it to Essen and there dropped it's bombs. It is not clear from remarks made by Angers or Watson from their MI9 reports.) But the Wellington continued to loose height, LeBlanc's next step was to dump fuel. Dumping enough to make a difference but to be able to still make it home. ( This information on dumping fuel is not mentioned in either reports made by Watson and Angers. Nor is it mentioned in a letter from Watson to Emile LeBlanc's brother some time after Watson made it back to England.
Watson did mention icing conditions which are not mentioned from the source that this page is based on.) They were continuing to loose height and only managed to level off at about 2,500 feet.
With great care and ability Le Blanc managed to inch it back up to 3,000 feet all the while no one had noticed they had wandered off course and heading for the heavily defended port city of Antwerp.
Alone and caught in the concentrated fire power of hundreds of guns all along there path, with little amount of control the aircraft became an easy target and was hit. At a height of around 1,000 feet the bailout order was given, Watson helped the young pilot, Leblanc into his parachute. A chute that he would not have the chance to use, he had deliberately remained at the controls so that the others had a better chance to get out of the hopeless Wellington.
The crew reported during their interviews later after being liberated that Sgt. Leblanc had kept his sense of humour about him all the while with the things literally failing all around them. The aircraft came down near Wuustwezel 16 km to the North East of Antwerp. Two of the crew became Evaders while two more were interned in POW camps.
Crew
Pilot: R/76272 Sgt Charles Emile Leblanc RCAF - Adegem Canadian War Cemetery XII. G. 1.
Navigator: Plt Off John Henry Watson RCAF - Evaded
Wireless Operator:R/71755 Sgt Eric Alfred Winkler RCAF PoW Stalag Luft Zagan & Belaria. PoW Number 366.
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner:R/77252 Sgt N W Bradley RCAF PoW Stalag Luft Zagan & Belaria. PoW Number 309
Air Gunner: Sgt Joseph Arthur Angus Bruneau Angers RCAF -Evaded
Sources:
419 Squadron Association
http://www.419squadron.com/Watson.html
http://www.419squadron.com/Angers.html
https://luchtvaartgeschiedenis.be/content/wellington-bij-gooreind
Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part three
Google Maps
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 9 April 1942 | X3467 | 419 (Moose) Sqn RCAF | 1 | twixt Barßel and the Roggenberg; Niedersachsen |  |
w/o |
| 18 May 1942 | Z1562 | 419 (Moose) Sqn RCAF | 5 | Sea off Cromer Norfolk |  |
mis |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Jan-2018 20:00 | Red Dragon | Added |
| 31-Jan-2018 01:21 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
| 15-Feb-2018 08:46 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Phase, Destination airport, Plane category] |
| 29-Apr-2020 20:57 | TigerTimon | Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source] |
| 26-Jun-2022 02:58 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
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