Page 2 - James Eric Frederick Paton

Sergeant James Eric Frederick Paton was tasked along with the rest of the crew on their first and
last Main Force operation to bomb the German capitol Berlin flying that night in
Lancaster ED713 W-William2.

576 Squadron in 1943 was based at RAF Elsham Wolds near Scunthorpe, it sharing the airfield
th
with 103 Squadron from which 576 formed on the 25 November 1943.
The 8 Lancasters from the squadron that contributed to this Main Force operation (consisting of in
rd
total 379 aircraft) took off from RAF Elsham Wolds starting at 23.50pm on the evening of the 23
December 1943. The crew’s Pilot Flying Officer R.L. Hughes lifting the Lancaster off
Elsham Wolds main runway at 00.32 am.

The war load on the Lancaster consisted of one 4,000 lb high capacity demolition bomb, known to
the crew’s as a ‘Cookie’ with the rest consisting of 4lb incendiaries, a standard area bombing war
load. The crew never got to Berlin, overflying central Germany at 19,000 Feet they were
intercepted at 03.06 am (02.06 GMT) overflying the German village of Langenhain, 17 miles west
of Frankfurt by the experienced German night fighter ace Hauptmann Paul Szameitat
Gruppenkommandeur of the German Night Fighter Squadron II./NJG 3. Szameitat was flying the
Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-4 fitted with the upward firing 20mm cannon known as Schräge Musik
(Jazz Music). The pilot’s radar operator detected the Lancaster on his Lichtenstein radar set and
the crew’s fate was sealed as the pilot manoeuvred his fighter to a position below the Lancasters
fuselage and starboard wing spars. A rapid burst from the two twin 20mm cannons would have
ripped into the fuel tanks and set the Lancaster ablaze, with only three of the seven man crew able
to get out of the aircraft

. Sergeant Lanxon the crew’s rear gunner and two others landing close to the wreckage. Sergeant
Donald Morris the crew’s navigator landed in a tree injuring his leg. Sergeant Lanxon despite
being injured and losing blood from his wounds searched the wreckage for any survivors,
exhausted by his ordeal and his injuries he gave himself up to local villages. He had lost his flying
boots as he bailed out of the Lancaster so he had no chance of making an escape. Sergeants
Woodruff and Morris after a 24 hour period of avoiding the Germans along with Sergeant Lanxon
spent the rest of the war as prisoners. Sergeant Lanxon being held at the P.O.W. camps at Stalag
Luft III Sagen and its sub camp at Belaria 100 miles Southeast of Berlin. Sergeants Woodruff and
Morris were held at Stalag Luft IV-B Műhlberg 30 miles north of Dresden. The survivors being
repatriated back to the UK at the end of the war by Bomber Command as part
of Operation 'Exodus'.

That night Main Force that attacked Berlin was made up of 379 aircraft, 364 Lancasters, 8
Mosquitos and 7 Halifax’s. The bomber casualties were not as heavy as on recent raids, partly
because German fighters encountered difficulty with the weather and partly because the German
controller was temporarily deceived by the Mosquito diversion at Leipzig. The main force of
fighters only appeared in the target area at the end of the raid and could not catch the main
bomber stream. 16 Lancasters were lost, 4.2 per cent of the force. The Berlin area was covered by
cloud and more than half of the early Pathfinder aircraft had trouble with their H2S sets. The
markers were scattered and sparse.