Sergeant C. A. Cowper Le Mee-power

[StalagIVB]

While helping a friend with some research yesterday, she mentioned that some of her family had been killed during WW2. I had a look on CWGC, not only to find that her uncle had been buried at Dreux Communal Cemetery but also that he had been killed on 3rd June 1944, only 8 days before Iorwerth Pierce Edwards (also buried at Dreux). Imagine my surprise !
Unable to find any information through searching the web, I wonder if someone could please let me know, in which aircraft this man served. He is buried in a collective grave which appears to hold 6 men. This I presume indicates that these men would have all been with the same crew and therefore the same aircraft. His details are:

Colin Adrian Cowper (Bob) Le Mee-Power
Sergeant (Flt. Engr) 1819225
RAFVR
76 Sqd.
Died: 03/06/1944
Son of Charles John and Margaret Bridget Le Mee- Power
Cem: Row 1. Coll. grave 33-38
Dreux Communal Cemetery

The other men in the Collective grave are:

Lawrence Stanley Bryan - Flt. Serg. (W.Op)
Hubert Clarence Johnson - Flt Serg. Royal Canadian Air Force - 76 (RAF) Sqdn.
Raymond Stewart - Sergeant (Air Bomber)
William Ernest Woodbine - Serg (Air Gunner)
Frank Guy Woods - Flight Sergeant (Pilot)

[StalagIVB]

I've just found the same list of men on the "Forced Landing Association" site, plus Raymond Walter Davis. That section of the site is still under construction, therefore that's all the information that I could find. Does this look like another Lancaster ?

[Harry Ree]

These casuaties were the crew of RAF Squadron No 76 Halifax 111 Serial No LK784 MP-D whose aircraft crashed near Faverolles, 16 kms ESE of Dreux whilst on an operation to bomb the railyards at Trappes close to Versailles from their base at Holme on Spalding Moor,East Yorkshire.

This Halifax was one of three lost by No 76 Squadron that night.Halifax Serial No LK783 MP-C crashed also close to Dreux with no survivors.This crew is also buried at Dreux.

Dreux is well remote from the target area and there is no evidence that the aircraft were on the run in to the target or on their homeward leg.

Halifax Serial No MZ604 MP-W was lost with ,the Navigator, F/S T R Hood surviving as a POW.This aircraft crashed SE of the target area in the vicinity of Rambouillet.The 6 dead of this crew are buried at Bretigney sur Orge Communual Cemetery.

The raid on the Trappes railyards resulted in aircraft losses of 12.5 % which have to be considered in excess of normal losses.Out of 105 Halifaxes,19 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitoes dispatched against the Trappes railyards,16 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster failed to return.Most of the bombs fell on the eastern half of the target.

[StalagIVB]

Harry
Excellent. Thank you very much. I'll pass your information on to Serg. Le Mee-Power's relative.

[Glosters]

No. 901. Private Colin Adrian Cowper LE MEE POWER.
Enlisted in the British Volunteer Company, Osasto Sisu (Finnish Army) to fight in the Winter War. He was among the group of volunteers who were transferred to the Finnish Air Force. I have some research on him in my notes.

Steve

[StalagIVB]

Steve
Fantastic. Thank you This is excellent news. If you have time to look I would appreciate any further information on Colin Le Mee-Power. Until a few days ago his niece knew hardly anything about her father's family.

[Egorov]

Hi,

I know a man impassioned of aviation which lives close to Dreux .
He is occupied since years to seek the allied crews fallen during the war in this area and he forms part of an association .
I try to contact him to know if he has informations .

I will write you as soon as I have news.

Egorov.

[StalagIVB]

Egorov
Thank you.
Please also ask about Iorwerth Pierce Edwards who I mentioned in earlier post, as he is also buried at Dreux.

[norman hood]

I have recently returned from Longvillier en Yvelines, South of Paris, where I attended a memorial service to the crew of Halifax III MZ604 code MP-W, 76 Squadron RAF Holme on Spalding Moor. It was a very moving ceremony and attended by many people. It was held on the 3rd June 2006, 62 years to the day when the incident happened. - I met a lady who had helped to carry the navigator to a nearby house and fetch a doctor, a lady who had a wedding dress made out of the silk from the navigators parachute, see a sewing machine made out of pieces of wreckage and a farmer with a water-pump that was still in use. - Its something that I shall never forget. The navigator was badly wounded and taken by the Germans. In 1945, he returned from the war weighing only 5 stone and learnt for the first time that he was the only survivor. He use to visit Runnymede memorial every June to search for the crew but sadly he could never find them. He died in 2000 before the discovery of wreckage from a WWII aircraft had been found in Longvilliers - a Halifax propeller blade and signal gun. The wreckage had remained on the field for many years after the war. The crew of the aircraft were buried in nearby Bretigny-sur-Orge. After the memorial service at Longvilliers which is about 30 miles south-west of Paris I was taken a few miles to the east to visit the Cemetery. There, tucked away in a far corner was a little garden of England cared for beautifully by the War Graves Commission. There were 20 headstones of crews from 76, 78 and 640 Squadrons and two unknown graves. I now feel honoured that I was able to pay respect for the 6 fallen on behalf of my late father. The memorial is right beside the field where MP-W came down at 0100 3 June 1944. The plane was trying to reach the coast after bombing the marshalling yards at Trappes west of Paris. It was on a westerly course approaching Eveaux when they were attacked by a German night fighter. My father, FSgt. RT Hood was the only survivor. I have full details of the crew and of this flight if anyone should require. Norman Hood

[Kiwiwriter]

Norman, you are very welcome here. Do introduce yourself, and thank you for your family's service to Crown and Country.