17th/18th June 1944 - Avro Lancaster HK-559 - RAF 115 Squadron

17^th/18^th June 1944

Lancaster Mk I HK-559

115 Squadron - Royal Air Force

GANNES (Oise)

115 Squadron

On the night of 17^th to 18^th June 1944, 196 Lancasters from different Squadrons of the Royal Air Force took off from their English bases with a mission to bomb rail facilities in Aulnoye, Saint Martin-l'Hortier and Montdidier.

Participating in the attack, 115 Squadron, based at Witchford, Cambridgeshire, sent 14 four-engined aircraft which took off at 1:00 am. The target for 115 Squadron was Montdidier station.

The crew of the Lancaster Mk I - HK-559 :

P/O John Alan TRAILL	RAAF	Pilot	21	KIA
Sgt Douglas Albert DAWSON	RAF	Flight Engineer	22	KIA
F/S Ian Harrison SMITH	RAAF	Navigator	21	KIA
F/S John William VAN COOTEN	RAAF	Bomb aimer	22	KIA
W/O Peter DUFF	RAF	Wireless operator	34	KIA
Sgt Ernest Edwin STAPLEY	RAF	Mid upper gunner	35	KIA
Sgt Kenneth Edgar LAXTON	RAF	Rear gunner	20	KIA

P/O John Alain TRAILL Sgt. Douglas Albert DAWSON F/S Ian Harrison SMITH F/S John William VAN COOTEN

Burwood, New South Wales Ossett, Yorkshire Bondi, New South Wales Brisbane, Queensland

Australia England Australia Australia

W/O Peter DUFF Sgt. Ernest Edwin STAPLEY Sgt. Kenneth Edgar LAXTON

Dundee, Scotland London, England Birmingham, England

Approaching the town, the weather was bad and the wind was strong. The target, obscured by clouds, was invisible. Bombing was impossible. German anti-aircraft defence joined the action.

The Lancaster HK-559, severely hit, quickly became unmanageable. The heavy four-engined aircraft burst into flames, still carrying its payload of bombs. Inexorably losing altitude, it spiralled over the village of Gannes, giving the seven crew members no chance to evacuate the aircraft. Around 2:00 am, it struck the ground, having torn the roof off a house near the small station of Gannes. The aircraft exploded and all seven airmen perished.

Miraculously, that night, nobody was inside the house usually occupied by a family evacuated from Le Havre because of the bombing.

The Lancaster HK-559 was the only one of the 14 aircraft of 115 Squadron not to return from this mission.

The crash site

At daybreak, it was a frightful spectacle for the villagers. The wreckage was strewn over a wide area and it quickly became clear that none of the members of the crew had survived this tragedy.

The funeral of the airmen was held on Wednesday 21^st June in the church of Gannes and a large crowd gathered to pay tribute to the seven occupants of the aircraft.

Coming out of the church, the funeral procession takes the direction of the cemetery.

The bodies of the airmen were then buried in the cemetery alongside French soldiers killed in June 1940. They rest there today.

Gannes Cemetery – The graves in 1948

Today

The study by Ian Duff, nephew of the wireless operator, on this tragic event in Gannes.

21^st June 2009 a ceremony was held at Gannes in memory of the crew.

21^st June 2014 : ceremony commemorating the 70^th anniversary of the crash.

15^th June 2019 : ceremony commemorating the 75^th anniversary of the crash.

15^th June 2024 : ceremony commemorating the 80^th anniversary of the crash.

Accueil English Airmen 17th/18th June 1944 - Avro Lancaster HK-559 - RAF 115 Squadron - Gannes (Oise)