Date: 12th January 1945
Unit: No. 617 Squadron
Type: Lancaster I (BI Special)
Serial: NF992
Coded: KC-B
Location: Norwegian coast
Pilot: F/O. Ian Stewart Ross 18839 R.A.A.F. Age 24 Killed (1)
Fl/Eng: Fl/Sgt. William Walter 1866667 R.A.F.V..R. Age ? Killed
Nav: W/O. Sydney Ross Anderson D.F.M. 1098277 R.A.F.V.R. Age 22 Killed
Air/Bmr: P/O. Edward George Tilby 184159 184159 R.A.F.V.R. Age ? Killed
W/Op: F/O. Mowbray Ellwood D.F.M. M.I.D. 54542 R.A.F.V.R. Age 24 Killed
Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Leslie Douglas Griffiths 1580829 R.A.F.V.R. Age 22 Killed
Air/Gnr: F/O. Alexander Farley McKellar 176945 R.A.F.V.R. Age 20 Killed
REASON FOR LOSS:
Took off at 08.46 hrs from Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire as part of a force of 32 Lancasters of 617 Squadron and 9 Squadron to attack the German U-Boat pens in Bergen harbour. Some aircraft carried the huge Tallboy bombs (Including this Lancaster NF992) needed to penetrate the 3.5 metre thick roofs of the pens and reports have it that 3 did indeed do this and caused severe damage to workshops, offices and stores inside.
The Minesweeper M-1 was also sunk during this raid and another German ship the Olga Simmers damaged. 2 U-Boats, U-775 and U-864 were slightly damaged. Bergen had suffered many civilian casualties on 2 earlier raids but the more accurate bombing on this day resulted in no deaths or damage to civilian houses. 20 German sailors were killed from the Minesweeper crew and another 2 German we also killed.
This Lancaster was lost in the sea off the Norwegian coast and as it had been witnessed by other crews in the squadron going down an Air Sea Rescue Warwick dropped a lifeboat. However all the crew were lost and six are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, F/O. Mowbray Ellwood's body was washed up on the shore on the 13th March 1945 and is now buried at the Trondheim (Stavne) Cemetery.
Also on this raid 2 other Lancaster's from 617 Squadron were lost and 1 from 9 Squadron.
On September 11th 1944 F/O. Ross, Fl/Sgt. Walter, P/O. Tilby, Fl/Sgt. Griffiths, and McKellar escaped unhurt when they were forced to carry out a wheels up emergency landing when the Lancaster III (EE131 EC-B) they were positioning to a base in Russia ran low on fuel near Molotovsk, Russia.
Lancaster NF992 earlier crew with Back row L - R: Sgt. K.H. Jenkinson, Sgt. C.T. King, Sgt W. Walter, Sgt. A.F. Mckellar. Front L - R: F/O. T.C. O'Brien, P/O. I.S. Ross, Sgt. E.G. Tilby (A.R.S. archive picture - positive identification of remaining crew members supplied by Martin Whitcombe)
617 Squadron modified Lancaster shown here with the "Tallboy" bomb about to be loaded. (A.R.S. archive picture)
Form PD75 "Casualty notification form". With I.D. picture of F/O. Ross
F/O. Ian Stewart Ross
Lancaster III (EE131 EC-B) after the forced landing in Russia
Burial Details:
6 of the 7 crew members are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
F/O Ian Stewart Ross Panel. 283
Son of Alexander McLachlan Ross, and of Christina Lillian Ross, of Alphington, Victoria, Australia.
Fl/Sgt. William Walter Panel. 273
W/O. Sydney Ross Anderson D.F.M. Panel. 269
Son of Robert and Norah Anderson; husband of F. Joan Anderson, of Dollis Hill, Middlesex.
P/O. Edward George Tilby Panel. 269
Fl/Sgt. Leslie Douglas Griffiths Panel. 271
Son of Mrs. E. M. Griffiths, of Handsworth, Birmingham.
F/O. Alexander Farley McKellar Panel. 267
Son of Alexander and Elsie McKellar, of Edinburgh.
F/O. Mowbray Ellwood D.F.M. M.I.D. Trondheim (Stavne) Cemetery A IV. British A.10
Son of Linnard and Winifred Ellwood; husband of Primrose Mary Ellwood, of Boston, Lincolnshire.
Research by David King, Kelvin T. Youngs (Aircrew Remembrance Society April 2009)
We are indebted to Stephen Clifford from Sydney, Australia for bringing this loss to our attention. Tragically the family lost all photographs and documents relating to Ian Ross during the floods in 1993, the Aircrew Remembrance Society have discovered several in their archive and will be forwarding them to the family along with a few documents and of course this article.
We also wish to thank the author Gordon Thorburn for contacting us regarding the losses on this raid and advising us that the specific target for NF992 had been designated "Shipping". This information originated from the squadron O.R.B's.
(1) 7 family members joined the war to fight - by the end of the war 6 would be dead.
With thanks to the following: Bill Chorley - "Bomber Command Losses", Theo Boiten - "German Nightfighter War Diaries", Martin Middlebrook "Bomber Command War Diaries". The superb work of the C.W.G.C. Purchase these research books "HERE"
