Page 10 - 576 Squadron History

The pace of operations increased even more in August 1944 with the Squadron participating in no
less than 24 operations with great success. The first 15 days saw raids on V1 launching and
storage sites, oil storage facilities, army support in the region of the battle area and railway
marshalling yards. In addition a mining operation was undertaken in the sea off La Rochelle and
La Pallice and a daylight attack was made on the Luftwaffe airfield at Le Culoy in Belgium and a
night raid on Brunswick.

On the 10 August 18 Lancasters and crews were detailed for a daylight attack on the aviation fuel
th
storage tanks at Dugny. The raid started badly but became concentrated and was considered a
success. Flying Officer I. G. D. Mills, the air bombardier in the crew of Flying Officer H. F. H.
Watts, was seriously wounded by flak and the pilot made an emergency landing at Deanland on
return so Flying Officer Mills could get urgent medical attention.

The Return to Germany

th
On the 16/17 August 576 detailed 5 Lancasters and crews for a mining task in the Pomeranian
Bay and 9 for an attack on the German port of Stettin. Both were carried out successfully. Flying
Officer C. G. Wearmouth and crew were involved in a combat with a single engine night fighter
and the rear gunner, Sergeant J. Graham, claimed it as destroyed after it had exploded. Flying
Officer H. F. H. Watts and crew were badly shot about by a night fighter and forced to make for
neutral Sweden. The crew bailed out of the Lancaster which crashed at Höör, Skåne County.
Flying Officer Watts died from strangulation after landing in a tree and becoming entangled in his
parachute lines. The other 6 were interned but returned to Britain within 3 months to resume
operational duties.

On the 26/27 August the Squadron detailed 15 Lancasters and crews for a raid on Kiel and 4 for
th
a mining operation in Gdynia. 2 Lancasters and crews from the Squadron failed to return, those of
Flying Officer J. A. Linklater R.C.A.F from the Kiel raid and Flying Officer H. D. Murray from the
th
mining operation. Flying Officer Murray and his crew were on their 27 operation and so had
nearly finished their tour. The loss of this experienced and reliable crew was
a deep shock to the Squadron.

th
Stettin was again the target on the 29/30 August when 16 Lancasters and crews were detailed
and a further 2 on a mine laying operation in Stettin Bay. Another successful attack resulted which
included much destruction or damage to shipping in the harbour. The Lancaster of Flying Officer
C. D. Thieme and crew was hit over the target and badly damaged losing 2 engines. The 2
gunners bailed out over Germany and were taken prisoner but the pilot managed to fly the aircraft
to Sweden and, when they were certain they were over land, the remaining crew bailed out. They
were interned for some weeks but returned to Britain. Flying Officer Thieme and Flight Sergeant H.
W. Vine, who was also a member of this crew, were killed with 576 Squadron in February 1945. It
was most unusual for Bomber Command aircraft to head for neutral territory but 576 Squadron
had 2 such instances in the last 2 weeks. Both were justifiable in view of the very serious nature of
the damage they had sustained.

The final operation of August was a daylight attack on the V2 storage depot at Argenville on the
st
31 . The notable feature of this operation was that 2 air bombardiers, Flight Sergeant Lowing and
Sergeant Pym, were badly injured by flak. During August 576 had participated in 24 operations, 12
in daylight, detailing 265 sorties for the loss of 5 Lancasters and crews. 11 aircrew returned to
duties from Sweden later in the year.