No. 428 Squadron, also known
as the Ghost Squadron due to its nocturnal operations, was a bomber
squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The motto of the squadron was
Usque ad finem ("To
the very end"), and
it was initially formed on November 7, 1942, at RAF Dalton in Yorkshire
as part of No. 4 Group RAF. It was transferred to No. 6 Group RCAF on
January 1, 1943, and it remained part of this group until April 25,
1945. The first operational mission was flown to Lorient on the night of
January 26, 1943. In June of 1943 the squadron was re-equipped with
Handley-Page Halifaxes and redeployed to RAF Middleton St. George. In
June 1944 the squadron was re-equipped with Canadian-built Avro
Lancaster Mk Xs, and these were used throughout the rest of the Second
World
War. The unit was disbanded in September 1945, but saw service again
between 1954 and 1961 as an all-weather fighter squadron flying the
Avro CF-100 Canuck.
On the evening of 8/9 april, 1943, 302 aircraft (156
Lancasters, 97 Wellingtons, 73 Halifaxes, 56 Stirlings and ten
Mosquitoes) took off to bomb the city of Duisburg in the Rhine Valley as
the first of two Bomber Command missions targeting the city. The pilot
of Vickers Wellington Mark X NA-Y, serial number HE239, was Sergeant
Pilot Leonard Franklin Williamson from Regina, the capitol of
Saskatchewan. He had enlisted in 1941, and on the night of April 8 and
9, 1943, he was to pilot NA-Y to Duisburg on his seventh mission. His
crew consisted of the navigator, Flight Sergeant W. Watkins, the bomb
aimer, Flight Serbeant H. Parker, wireless operator Sergeant J. Powley
and finally rear gunner Sergeant Lorenzo Bertrand. The aircraft took off
from RAF Dalton in Yorkshire without incident, but as the bombers
approached Duisburg at 11:15 pm, the aircraft were subjected to heavy
Flak fire. NA-Y was hit three minutes later, and the bomber began
vibrating alarmingly while the rudder bar was forced upwards and forwards.
However, the Wellington was already on its final run to the aiming
point, and Williamson pressed on. The bomb load was released two
minuted later, at 11:20 pm. Williamson had checked in with his crew
members after the initial Flak hit, but there was no reply from the tail
gunner, Sergeant Bertrand. The navigator, Sergeant Watkins, went back through the
vibrating fuselage and made a horrific discovery: the entire rear turret
and all of the fabric covering the fuselage aft of the beam gun
position had been blown away. Meanwhile, Williamson noted that the
hydraulics had also been hit, which manifest itself by the bomb doors
remaining open and the landing gear being abruptly lowered. Further
damage had been caused to the elevators and radio equipment on board.
Williamson realized that he could not climb, but he was able to maintain
his altitude, so a bail out order was cancelled. After what must have
been a gruesome flight back to the United Kingdom, the crew landed at a
fighter base in West Malling, Kent. The bombing of Duisburg had limited
effect, since the town was covered with a thick layer of clouds, which ruined the
Pathfinder markings. Therefore the bombing was scattered, with 40 houses
destroyed, 72 damaged and 36 people killed. Another 15 towns in the
Ruhr valley were also hit with bombs. Nineteen Bomber Command aircraft
were lost, or 4.8 percent of the participating aircraft (seven
Wellingtons, six Lancasters, three Halifaxes, and three Stirlings).
Williamson
was initially recommended for a Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM), but
this was changed on April 28 by the AOC of 6 Group, Air Vice Marshal
Brookes, to a recommendation for the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (CGM),
the other rank's equivalent of the Distiguished Service Order, which is
of a higher valor. The recommendation was signed by Air Chief Marshal
Sir Arthur Harris on May 2, 1943.
The body of the
unfortunate rear gunner, Sergeant Bertrand, was found by the Germans,
and it was buried in the Reichswald War Cemetery. The aircraft was
repaired, but spent the rest of the war with two Operational Training
Units (OTU), OTU No. 20 at Lossiemouth and OTU No. 22 at Wellesbourne Mountford before becoming a ground instructional airframe in March 1946.
Original caption: "Damage to Vickers Wellington Mark X, HE239
'NA-Y', of No. 428 Squadron RCAF based at Dalton, Yorkshire, resulting
from a direct hit from anti-aircraft gun fire while approaching to bomb
Duisburg, Germany on the night of 8/9 April 1943. Despite the loss of
the rear turret and its gunner, as well as other extensive damage, the
pilot, Sergeant L F Williamson, continued to bomb the target, following
which it was found that the bomb doors could not be closed because of a
complete loss of hydraulic power. Williamson nevertheless brought HE239
and the remainder of his crew back for a safe landing at West Malling,
Kent, where this photograph was taken."
