Date: 27/28th July 1943
Unit: No. 467 Squadron.
Type: Lancaster III
Serial: W5003
Code: PO-H
Base: Bottesford
Location: Wöhrden
Pilot: P/O. James Llewellyn Carrington 413167 R.A.A.F. Age 25. Killed
Fl/Eng: Fl/Sgt. E.C. Brookes P.O.W. (Stalag Luft Heydekrug - P.O.W. No 1288
Nav: Fl/Sgt. Michael Rodney Warr King 1315580 R.A.F.V.R. Age 20. Killed
Air/Bmr: Sgt. Henry Victor Hawkins 658138 R.A.F.V.R. Age? Killed
W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. William Green 1081353 R.A.F.V.R. Age. 34. Killed
Air/Gnr: Sgt. Herbert Bradley 620508 R.A.F. Age. 27. Killed
Air/Gnr: Sgt. S. Drake P.O.W. (Repatriated to England on the Arundel Castle on 6th February 1945.)
REASON FOR LOSS:
Took off from Bottesford as part of a group of 787 aircraft - 353 Lancaster's, 244 Halifaxes, 116 Stirlings, 74 Wellingtons. 17 aircraft were lost. A total of 2,326 tons of bombs were dropped.
This was the night of the firestorm and the burnt out area was almost entirely residential. 16,000 multi-storeyed apartments were destroyed. There were very few survivors from the firestorm area and approximately 40,000 people died, most of them from carbon monoxide poisoning when all the air was drawn out of their basement shelters. In the period following this raid, approximately 1,200,000 people fled the city in fear of further raids.
Lancaster W5003 was shot down by the German Night-fighter Ace Major Günther Radusch of Stab II./NJG3 at 00.43 hrs over Wöhrden, 6 KM South West of Heide at a height of 5.900 mts.
Major Günther Radusch of Stab II./NJG3
"Fips" Radusch had a total of 65 night kills and 1 day kill by the end of the war. He survived but no further information on his post war activities. He died on July 29th 1988 of natural causes in Nordstrand, Schleswig-Holstein. (Same area as W5003 came down!)
Sgt. William Green
During the war the family of Sgt. William Green had a German P.O.W. staying with them at their home. After the war was over the man returned to Germany and he went to Bill's grave and took some pictures and sent them back as a thank you for looking after him. (Travel then was impossible for relatives, photographs were also a luxury, so this gesture was truly tremendous and the relatives wanted us to point this out)
Original grave markers in Germany 1945
The girlfiend / wife of the German P.O.W who visited Bill’s grave and sent the pictures to Bill’s parents.
Hamburg Cemetery 2007
Burial Details:
P/O. James Llewellyn Carrington Hamburg Cemetery 5A. L.13.
Son of James and Clara Middleton Carrington, of Quirindi, New South Wales, Australia.
Fl/Sgt. Michael Rodney Warr King Hamburg Cemetery Joint grave 5A..L.10.
Son of Wing Cdr. Dudley Warr King and Yvonne Muriel King, of Careby, Lincolnshire.
Sgt. Henry Victor Hawkins Hamburg Cemetery 5A. L.12.
No further details as yet.
Sgt. William Green Hamburg Cemetery Joint grave 5A..L.10.
Son of Samuel and Jane Green, of Bryn, Lancashire.
Sgt. Herbert Bradley Hamburg Cemetery 5A. L.11.
Son of Selina Patton, of Brompton, Yorkshire.
With thanks to the following: Bill Chorley - "Bomber Command Losses Vol 3", Theo Boiten - "German Nightfighter War Diaries Vol 2", Martin Middlebrook "Bomber Command War Diaries". The C.W.G.C.
