Estonian Vintage

It would seem unlikely that tankers of the Second World War would dare to engage the enemy in the buckets of bolts that were the tanks of World War One,  but this may very well have happened when the Soviet forces retreating from Tallinn in 1941 left two dug in World War One Mark V tanks to hold off the Wehrmacht.

The Mark V tank was a World War One-era rhomboid vehicle, although it started out as an entirely new type of tank. However, when the engine and transmission intended for the Mark IV became available in December of 1917, it was decided to use the same assembly lines, and the resulting Mark V was essentially an improved Mark IV. Also, the epicyclic gear steering system invented by a Walter Wilson made this the first British tank that required only one man to steer the vehicle. It also had a more powerful 150 hp Ricardo engine than its predecessors. The Mark V tank was originally built in 200 "male" versions with a 6lb guns in the left and the right sponson and 200 "female" versions which were armed with machine guns. Several were also converted to "Mark V Composites" or "hermaphrodites" with one gun and one machine gun sponson. An additional machine gun was fitted to the rear of the hull on all versions. The Mark V tank was initially deployed during the Battle of Hamel on July 4, 1918, when 60 tanks took part in a successful Australian assault on the German lines.

Following World War One, approximately 70 Mark V tanks were brought to Russia by the Western forces intervening on behalf of the White side in the Russian Civil War, and they were also used by British forces in the North Russia Campaign. Several were eventually captured by the Red Army, and in 1921 Mark V tanks were used by the Soviet forces invading Georgia. The Mark V tanks did contribute to the Soviet victory in the Battle of Tbilisi.

The young state of Estonia had initially requested tanks from the Western Allies following the end of World War One, but the Allies feared that Estonia would be defeated by the Soviet Union, and thus refused. However, the fortunes of war did provide Estonia with armored vehicles when the White Northwestern Army under General Nikolai Yudenich was overpowered by the Red Army following operation Whire Sword, a planned advance on Petrograd. The Northwestern Army was forced to retreat towards its ally Estonia, and it was dissolved at the end of 1919. At that time, the commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, Johan Laidoner, was given permission to take over the tanks of the Northwestern Army, and Estonia became the proud owners of four Mark V and two Renault FT tanks. On November 26, 1919, daily order no. 777 tasked Captain Hans Vanaveski with forming and organizing a training unit referred to as a Tank Class that was to be placed under the command of the commander of the Reserve Forces. The Mark V tanks were eventually re-formed into a heavy tank company.

Mark V tanks in Estonia, probably during the 1920s.

The Mark V was used by Estonian Army during the inter-war years, as were two other Mark V tanks acquired by the Latvian Army. When the Soviet Union annexed the Baltic States in 1940, the arms and the equipment of respective nation's armed forces were added to the Red Army. In February 1941, the Estonian heavy tank company was amalgamated by the Red Army, and all of the tanks were found to be in poor condition. The Red Army did not have railway cars suitable for transporting the Mark V tanks, so they were left behind in a warehouse near Tallinn and almost forgotten. By August that same year, the Wehrmacht was approaching, and the Mark Vs were taken out of storage and deployed in emplacements along a defensive line on the Pirita River to cover the Soviet retreat. The vehicles may have been re-equipped with up to seven machine guns as well as Soviet 45mm guns in at least one sponson. It is also not known if these venerable vehicles actually saw combat against the Wehrmacht, and the prospect of facing the advancing German Army in World War One-era tanks sounds grim indeed. The tanks were captured by the Germans, and probably brought back to Germany to be melted down. The fate of the two Latvian Mark V tanks is not known.

Mark V tank in its emplacement after being captured by the Wehrmacht.

German soldiers examining captured Mark V tank, possibly after being towed out of an emplacement.

It should be noted that Soviet Forces came across two badly damaged Mark V tanks, one composite and one female, during the Battle of Berlin, but these tanks were survivors of the Russian Civil War that had been on display in Smolensk before being transported to Germany. It is not known whether these vehicles played any combat role in the Battle of Berlin. 

A Mark V tank in Berlin after the war.

The two Mark V tanks in front of the cathedral in Smolensk

Shot down before your wedding

With special thanks to Thorleif Persson for supplying primary source materials!

Sometime during the beginning of April 1941, the chief editor of the Swedish newspapaer Stockholms-Tidningen, Bӧrje Brilioth, received a letter from a Gunnar D. Kumlien, a Swedish journalist reporting from Rome. The letter contained an informal request for information concerning the fate of Sottotenente (Lieutenant) Niccolò Cobolli Gigli, a pilot in the Italian Air Force, the Regia Aeronautica Italiana. According to the letter, Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli had served in a fighter unit in Albania. His unit had encountered a group of “Spitfires on March 4 between 2:30 and 3:30” and Cobolli Gigli had been shot down in flames “in the Kimara [today’s Himarë] sector off the Albanian coast on the Greek side of the lines.” The chief editor was now kindly asked to inquire with editor Carl Cederschiӧld of the Swedish Red Cross Commission to Greece in Athens as to the whereabouts of the Italian aviator.

Asking about an Italian aviator shot down in the Balkans via contacts in Sweden may not seem like the most direct course of action, but Niccolò Cobolli Gigli was the son of Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli, the former Fascist Minister of Public Works between 1935 and 1939 and now the President of Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli  (AGIP), the leading Italian petroleum company of the era. Niccolò was therefore directly related to one of the members of the Fascist aristocracy, and Giuseppe was in turn friendly with Kumlien: that Easter, Niccolò was to marry Gladys Persichetti, the cousin of Kumliens wife. Kumlien was now hoping that Brilioth, who was seen as an Axis sympathizer, would be able to call in a favor with Cederschiӧld in Athens and find out what had happened to Niccolò from the Allies while avoiding the arbitrary Greek censorship.

In the beginning of March 1941 the Italian Armed Forces in the Balkans were in a most unhappy state. Benito Mussolini had invaded Greece on October 28, 1940, with a 162,000 men strong force deployed in Albania, which was an Italian possession since 1939. Mussolini anticipated a swift victory, but the Greeks would have nothing of the sort. Greek General Papagos put up a fierce defense, and some 5,000 prisoners were taken by the Greeks when they defeated the Italian 3rd Alpini Division in the Pindus Mountains. A Greek counter-offensive was eventually launched from south and east of Albania, and on November 22 the Greeks defeated the Italian IX Army and captured Koritsa. The Greek advance continued, but it was finally halted by late January 1941, and a stalemate was reached, although almost half of Albania was in Greek hands. However, the Italian forces were planning a spring offensive, Operation Primavera, for March 9. 

Sottotenente Niccolò Cobolli Gigli was born on October 30, 1918 in Turin, and he may very well have been named after his paternal grandfather, Nicolò Cobol, an elementary school teacher and outdoorsman in Capodistria (today’s Koper in Slovenia). The grandfather was possibly named Nicolaus Combol in German, which was widely spoken in Istria at the time.

Niccolò’s father, Giuseppe, was originally an irredentist before joining the Fascist party in 1919, and Niccolò was one of three brothers, the other two being named Sergio and Antongiulio. Sergio served the Fascist state as a Marine based on an anti-submarine vessel, while Antongiulio served as an officer in the Army, where he would be wounded during the fighting in Russia. Niccolò joined the Air Force, and in 1941 he was probably recently deployed to Albania with the 355.a Squadriglia of the 24° Gruppo Autonomo based in Tirana since October 1940. The unit had originally been tasked with defending Sardinian ports with elderly Fiat CR.32 biplanes as part of the 52° Stormo, but it had since become an autonomous unit as well as being re-equipped with Fiat G.50 monoplanes and tasked with escorting bombers and transport aircraft. The 355.a Squadriglia was commanded by Capitano Ettore Foschini, a Spanish Civil War veteran with one victory who would eventually down five additional enemy aircraft over the Balkans while flying the Fiat CR. 42. The unit was initially deployed to Albania on October 28, 1940, also as an autonomous Squadriglia, before joining the 24° Gruppo Autonomo in March of 1941. It is not clear whether this amalgamation had occurred before Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli was shot down, but the units were in all likelihood stationed at the same airfield in Tirana.

Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli

The Regio Aeronautica had spent the fall of 1940 engaging the Greek Air Force, and by the end of the year the small Greek fighter force was severely depleted, although the bomber force remained fairly intact. But reinforcements were on their way, and on November 3, the first Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft arrived in theatre. RAF Blenheim IF fighters flew their first patrol on November 4, 1940, and these aircraft were eventually joined by Gloster Gladiators, Hawker Hurricanes and Vickers Wellington bombers. The air battles over Greece and Albania intensified as winter turned into spring.

 Ettore Foschini (third from left) with fellow pilots near Stalino in May 1942 (http://forum.gp.dn.ua) 

 

During the morning of March 4, 1941, the Italian Navy sortied down the Albanian coast with a force composed of the cruiser Augusto Riboty, the destroyer Andromeda and three motor torpedo boats. This task force was escorted by Fiat G.50 bis and CR.42 fighters from the 24° Gruppo as they proceeded to shell the coastal road near Himarë and Porto Palermo, a stretch of approximately four miles in southern Albania. The RAF was aware of the Italian activity, and they immediately tasked 15 Blenheims with attacking the vessels. An escort was provided by ten Hurricanes and seventeen Gladiators. The forces were composed as follows:

·         nine Blenheims from 211 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Gordon-Finlayson

·         five Blenheims from 84 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Jones (one Blenheim failed to start)

·         six Hurricanes from 33 Squadron

·         four Hurricanes from 80 Squadron led by ace Flight Lieutenant Marmaduke Thomas St. John “Pat” Pattle, possibly the RAFs top-scoring pilot of the war

·         fourteen Gladiators from 112 Squadron

·         three Gladiators from 80 Squadron

The Italian ships were spotted approximately ten miles south of Vlorë at 3 PM, and the bombers attacked from line astern. Several near misses were noted, but no hits. Just as the Blenheims completed their bomb runs, six G.50bis bounced the Hurricanes, and Hurricane V7801 piloted by Warrant Officer Harry J. Goodchild was shot down in flames. Unfortunately for the Italians, they did not spot the Blenheims, as the RAF force was reported as “ten Spitfires, three Battles and twenty Gladiators.” As soon as the Blenheims started their return flights, the Hurricanes were ordered by Pattle to patrol the airspace above the Italian warships and engage enemy aircraft. A lone G.50bis attacked Pattle and his wingman Flying Officer Nigel Cullen in Hurricane V7288, but it was promptly shot down by Pattle just north of Himarë. Then a second G.50bis bounced Cullen, in turn shooting him down. Cullen’s Hurricane also crashed near Himarë. Following these engagements, the Hurricanes proceeded towards Vlorë, Yet another G.50bis was claimed by Pattle and then a third, which crashed in flames into the Vlorë harbor.

At this point in time nine Fiat CR.42s were seen below the Hurricanes, and the RAF pilots attacked right away. One of the CR.42s was hit by Pattle seen spinning down with smoke trailing from the engine. This was reported as a “probable.” Another Hurricane piloted by Sergeant Edward Hewett claimed one G.50bis and three out of eight CR.42s, all near Vlorë. Finally, Pilot Officer William Vale also claimed a G.50bis. The pilots of the Gladiators had also been busy, reporting combat with ten G.50bis and five CR.42s, with two claimed as being shot down, four “probables”, and another four damaged. The actions of March 4 led to Pattle being awarded a Bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).

The surviving pilots of the 24° Gruppo claimed four Gladiators, one Spitfire and one Battle. Their losses included one aircraft from the 354.a Squadriglia piloted by Sergente Marcello De Salvia shot down and one CR.42 piloted by Tenente Francesco Rocca damaged and the pilot wounded. The 355.a Squadriglia lost one CR.42. This was in all likelihood the aircraft of Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli, an aircraft that may have been one of the the CR.42s reported as being by the Hurricanes, which indicated that Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli was shot down by either Flight Lieutenant Pattle or Sergeant Hewett.

Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli did not get to marry Gladys Persichetti that Easter. He may have parachuted out of his burning CR. 42, but he did not survive to return to the Italian lines or to become a prisoner of war. Whether this was due to injuries, enemy ground troops or some other reason is not known, but he was posthumously awarded the Silver Medal on November 7, 1941, and the Gold Medal on January 28, 1943. According to the dedication of the Gold Medal, Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli was a “Pilot of exceptional valor, a trusty and faithful comrade and a tenacious and aggressive fighter who helped shoot down several enemy aircraft. While fighting superior enemy forces he sped to the rescue of a wingman who was outnumbered…his last generous gesture was worthy of the noble boldness that characterized his life.”

*

Operation Primavera was launched by the Italians, but the results were less than impressive. Germany had offered to assist the Italians for some time, but Mussolini had refused. Hitler’s patience did run out after seeing that his southern flank could not be protected by the Italians. The German Wehrmacht invaded the Balkans on April 6, and Allied resistance in mainland Greece had ceased by April 30.

There is a path named after Niccolò’s grandfather, the Sentiero Niccolò Cobolli, that leads up to the Roman Catholic Temple of Monte Grisa, which is located on the edge of the Karst plateau just north of Trieste, close to the place where Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli lies buried in an Italian military cemetery. This is at times forgotten, and in November 2007 the Italian consul in Koper neglected his annual duty of placing a wreath at the cemetery, since the sons of Koper had been awarded in all five Gold Medals for Italy. The Italian Foreign Ministry considered the issue to be of grave concern, pointing out that ceremonies to the fallen Italians have been conducted since 1964. Hopefully the consul has been more diligent since.

It should also be mentioned that the wife-to-be of Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli did eventually marry to become the Countess Gladys Persichetti della Zonca, and she emigrated to Brazil in 1946. She moved back to Italy at some point later in her life, and passed away in 2008. She was survived by three children and another three grandchildren, one who is named Niccolò.

Pilots of 80 Squadron in early 1941 somewhere in Greece.
(Left to right) Sergeant Edward Hewett, Pilot Officer William Vale, Flying Officer P. T. Dowding, Flying Officer F. W. Hosken, Flying Officer Trevor-Roper (84 Squadron), Flight Lieutenant "Pat" Pattle, Flying Officer Flower and Pilot Officer J. Lancaster (Håkans Aviation Page)

Sources:

Mario Cervi. The Hollow Legions. Mussolini’s Blunder in Greece 1940-1941. New York: Doubleday, 1971

Chris Dunning. Courage Alone. The Italian Air Force 1940-1943. Manchester: Crècy Publishing, 2009

Giovanni Massimello and Giorgio Apostolo. Italian Aces of World War 2. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2000

Alexis Mehtidis. Air War over Greece and Albania 1939-1941. Garberville: Titger Lily Books, 2008

Christopher Shores and Brian Cull with Nicola Malizia. Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete 1940-41. London: Grub Street, 1987

Vem är det? Svensk biografisk handbook. Stockholm: P. A. Norstedt & Söners Förlag, 1977

Håkans Aviation Page. http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/index.html

Il Messaggero, February 14, 2010

Handlingar rörande Svenska Greklandskommissionen 1940-1949

The Mäntyluoto Expeditions of 1918

Mäntyluoto (formerly Tallholmen) is part of the Port of Pori (Björneborg) in the Gulf of Bothnia, the other parts being Tahkoluoto (Vetenskär) and Reposaari (Räfsö). The port was established in 1780, back when Finland was a part of the Kingdom of Sweden. Today the Port of Pori is a bustling commercial bulk-port close to one of the best beaches in the Baltic and the thriving city of Pori, which every year hosts one of the major jazz festivals in Europe. Things were a tad different in 1918.

 

The collapse of Imperial Russia in 1917 led to the Grand Duchy of Finland declaring independence from Russia, but this declaration led to a brutal civil war between radical left paramilitary forces, so-called ”Red Guards” supported by the Soviet Union and conservative “White Guards” that were eventually supported by Germany. The civil war lasted between January 27, 1918, and May 15 that same year, with the White side emerging victorious.

However, a significant number of Swedish nationals were living in Finland when the civil war broke out, and with tales of horror reaching Sweden, it was decided to evacuate as many Swedes and, if there was space available, Scandinavians as possible. Three expeditions were mounted between late January and early March of 1918.

The Swedish government was quick to react when civil war broke out in Finland on January 27, and orders were given to the appointed commander, Commodore Ludvig Åkerhielm, on January 30. Commodore Åkerhielm was given command of the gunboat HMS Svensksund and the City of Stockholm ice breaker N:o II (launched 1915, 2,350 t). His Majesty’s Ship Svensksund was a gunboat launched on September 30, 1891 at Kockums Mekaniska Verkstad in Malmӧ. She had a long history of exploration behind her, having taken part in the ill-fated Andrée Arctic expedition of 1897 and many other scientific expeditions.  She was formally part of the Swedish Navy, but she had often been chartered to various research bodies, such as the Swedish Hydrographic-Biological Commission. HMS Svensksund had a beam of 7.87 meters, a length of 40.03 meters, and she displaced 274 tons. Her maximum speed was 12.5 knots, and she was armed with four 57mm guns. The crew of Svensksund consisted of 46 officers and sailors. The vessel saw regular use as a transport in the Baltic during the First World War, especially supplying the inhabitants of the Stockholm archipelago with food and other provisions during the course of the war.

 HMS Svensksund

 S/S Heimdal (Vykort genom Peter Asklander samling).

 Isbrytaren II (sjohistoriska.se)

 S/S Vineta (Vykort genom Peter Asklander samling).

 The chartered merchant steamers S/S Heimdal (launched 1915, 1,312 t) and S/S Vineta (launched 1913, 719 t) were also added to his force. Armed navy personnel were finally added to the crews of the merchant vessels, since the small force was to sail into a war zone.

The ships set sail for Mäntyluoto, a gathering point for Swedish evacuees, on February 1, 1918. At that point it was not known whether the port was being held by the Whites or the Reds, and as the vessels approached Mäntyluoto through thick ice on February 3, they were greeted by artillery fire from ashore. Four to six rounds exploded approximately 1,000 meters ahead of the first vessel, and this was followed by horn signals from the inlet to the harbor. Since there were no more shells fired, Commodore Åkerhielm assumed that these were warning shots to warn the convoy of mines in or around the harbor. The ships made full stop, and signalers on board tried to send a telegram to Marshal Mannerheim, the commander of the White forces, explaining the situation. After waiting for an hour around 30 armed individuals were seen approaching the convoy, and it turned out that these men were Red soldiers and Soviet sailors. They claimed that they had mistaken the ice breaker N:o II for the Finnish ice breaker Sampo that was being used as a transport for White forces. The Swedish vessels were thereafter allowed to proceed into the harbor, although HMS Svensksund remained off Mäntyluoto. The remaining Swedish vessels entered the harbor on the early morning of February 4, and 427 evacuees were embarked over the course of two days. The Swedish crews did also gather information about the course of the Finnish civil war, especially regarding the advances of the Reds and the atrocities committed by the Reds after taking the town of Borgå (today’s Porvoo). The convoy left Mäntyluoto on February 6 and returned safely to Stockholm on the morning of February 8, 1918. The disembarkation at Skeppsbrokajen was cordoned off by police, and the evacuees had to go through medical screening before they could be greeted by friends and relatives. But the crews of the vessels were given little time to rest, as a second expedition was already being planned.

The ice breaker N:o II started coaling on February 9, and the four ships left next day. This time the ships were carrying some 121 Russian returnees and couriers. The transit was uneventful, and the ships reached Mäntyluoto on February 12. They returned on February 14 with 641 evacuated passengers.

The third and final expedition to Mäntyluoto left Sweden on the afternoon of February 24, this time without HMS Svensksund. This trip was to prove a bit more dramatic that the previous one. The morning of the following day, February 25, saw S/S Vineta getting stuck in the thick ice. The vessel started taking in water, and passengers, crew as well as assorted provisions had to be transferred over to ice breaker N:o II. The S/S Vineta sank at 10:20 that same morning, and the remaining two ships continued towards Mäntyluoto, which was reached on February 28. Passengers from various Scandinavian countries were immediately embarked while provisions for Swedish refugees in Pori were unloaded and given to the Pori committee for food. Supplies provided by the Red Cross to be given to invalids living in Finland were also unloaded.

However, as the two vessels were preparing to leave for Sweden, the Red troops in Mäntyluoto demanded that a Finnish national on board one of the ships, an assessor by the name of Mr. Curtén, be handed over to the authorities. The Swedes refused to do this, and the Reds declared that the Swedish would not be allowed to leave the harbor. The Swedes were determined to return according to plan, and as the vessels were prepared for action in general and to repel boarders in particular, the Reds were notified of the planned time of departure. The two Swedish ships did leave as planned, and without any further intervention from the Reds. The ships returned to Stockholm on March 4 with some 406 passengers. In all, the three expeditions had evacuated 1,474 individuals, mainly Swedes, but also other Scandinavians and some non-Scandinavians that had been given permission to be evacuated by the Swedes through the Swedish Foreign Office.

As for the vessels involved, HMS Svensksund still had many years in her, and she remained in service until 1957. The City of Stockholm ice breaker N:o II was eventually renamed St. Erik, and she is today a museum vessel in the Stockholm Harbor, while the S/S Heimdal remained in service in the Baltic under several names until 1970. She was broken up in 1971.

Sources:

  

Kungliga Sjӧfӧrsvarsdepartementet. Flottans neutralitetsvakt. Redogӧrelse fӧr Flottans verksamhet fӧr neutralitetens upprätthållande samt sjӧfartens och fiskets tryggande m. m. under världskriget 1914-18, innefattande jämväl redogӧrelse fӧr visa åtgärder av Kustartilleriet och lotsverket. Stockholm: P. A. Norstedt, 1919

Ny Expedition skall avgå Finland. Inga nya underrättelser från inbӧrdeskriget. Kalmar. N:r 23 Lӧrdagen den 9 Februari 1918

The American-Scandinavian Review. New York: Volume VI, Number 1, January-February 1918

United States Department of State. Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States, 1918. Russia. Chapter XVI, pp. 722-732

faktaomfartyg.se

portofpori.fi

sjohistoriska.se

The MiG-17 FRESCO in the Vietnam War.

The MiG-17 as well as the Chinese version, the Shenyang J-5, was the most numerous fighter in the Vietnamese People's Air Force, with the first batch of 36 arriving as "gifts" from the USSR in February 1964 together with a few MiG-15UTI trainer aircraft to equip the 921st Air Regiment, which was the first unit to be formed by the NVAF. MiG-17s first saw action on April 3, 1965, when two groups of MiG-17s took off from Noi Dai Airbase under the command of Lieutenant Pham Ngoc Lan. The first group of two MiGs was to act as a bait for US aircraft while the second group of four MiGs was to engage enemy aircraft. The target was a US Navy strike package consisting of 80 aircraft that was tasked with the destruction of the Ham Rung bridge near Thanh Hoa.

The group of four MiGs attacked a group of F-8E Crusaders of VF-211 from USS Hancock, and Lieutenant Lan did damage a F-8E flown by Lieutenant Commander Spence Thomas, who had to perform an emergency landing ashore at Da Nang. Lieutenant Lan's wingman, Lieutenant Phan Van Tuc claimed a second F-8, although this was not corroborated by the the US Navy.

Three North Vietnamese aviators became aces while flying MiG-17s: Nguyen Van Bay with seven victories together with Luu Huy Chao and Le Hai who both scored six victories. MiG-17s accounted for 71shot down US aircraft, with most of the victories being supersonic-capable jets a generation ahead of the 1950s vintage MiG-17. Two MiG-17s were also the first aircraft to attack USN vessels since WW2, when the light cruiser USS Oklahoma City and the destroyer USS Higbee were bombed on April 19, 1972.

Turret blown away by FlaK over Duisburg.

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."