Looking for any info regarding the following please. No:?, Rank: ?. Herbert. Rayner. STURGESS: Member of the eight man crew of Lancaster DV 156. 12/13 July 1943 Flight to TURIN,may well have been a special op ? i understand it went missing.Regards
12-13 July 1943 50 Squadron Lancaster III DV156 VN- Op. Turin P/O. E J. Burnett + P/O. T. Stenhouse + Sgt. F. O'Carroll + P/O. A J. Holloway + Sgt. J E A P. Manning + Sgt. J T. Wilson + Sgt. G. Batey + Sgt. S H. Rayner Took off 2235 hrs Skellingthorpe. Lost without trace. All are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. BCL Vol.4 - Chorley Sgt. S H. Rayner CWGC details CWGC :: Casualty Details The Turin raid of 12/13 July 1943 295 Lancasters of 1, 5 and No 8 Groups to Turin. 13 Lancasters lost, 4.4 per cent of the force. The main weight of this raid fell just north of the centre of Turin in clear weather conditions. Among the RAF casualties on this night was Wing Commander JD Nettleton, Commanding Officer of 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, who had won the Victoria Cross for the low-level daylight raid on Augsburg in April 1942. Nettleton's Lancaster was shot down by a German night fighter over the Channel while returning from Turin. He and his crew all died.
12-13 July 1943 50 Squadron Lancaster III DV156 VN- Op. Turin P/O. E J. Burnett + P/O. T. Stenhouse + Sgt. F. O'Carroll + P/O. A J. Holloway + Sgt. J E A P. Manning + Sgt. J T. Wilson + Sgt. G. Batey + Sgt. S H. Rayner Took off 2235 hrs Skellingthorpe. Lost without trace. All are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. BCL Vol.4 - Chorley Sgt. S H. Rayner CWGC details CWGC :: Casualty Details The Turin raid of 12/13 July 1943 295 Lancasters of 1, 5 and No 8 Groups to Turin. 13 Lancasters lost, 4.4 per cent of the force. The main weight of this raid fell just north of the centre of Turin in clear weather conditions. Among the RAF casualties on this night was Wing Commander JD Nettleton, Commanding Officer of 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, who had won the Victoria Cross for the low-level daylight raid on Augsburg in April 1942. Nettleton's Lancaster was shot down by a German night fighter over the Channel while returning from Turin. He and his crew all died. Thank you. Trust me to get the surname the wrong way round RAYNER & not STURGESS
For them to be lost without trace, it would seem most likely that they crashed into the sea, possibly in a similar fashion to W/C Nettleton. It seems to have been a short summer night with good visibility, which although helping bombing, also made it easier for night fighters. Crashes on land have mostly been found by now, especially in what were Occupied Territories.
It looks like Sgt Rayner was the rear gunner on this crew. My notes say P/O Stenhouse was aboard as 2nd pilot.
Hello and welcome to the forum. Wishing you good luck with your research. Wondering what more you want to know about the lost crew of DV156. Regards Peter
Hi, Can't really help with tracing the deceased family members, you could try the CWGC web site. :: CWGC :: in some cases it will give you an idea where the deceased lived at the time of death, you could then contact a local newspaper for that area with your request for help. Its worked for me on numerous occasions. Maybe another forum member can come up with something. Wishing you the best of luck.... Regards Peter
ANYBODY....email me at pinkelephant77@yahoo.co.uk about anything relating to lancaster DV156 lost 12/13 august 43 please
hello peter clarke, I wonder do you know how I can contact 'Assaman' who was last posting on this forum a while ago regarding lancaster bomber DV156 ? thanks, Robert
[ hello peter clarke, I wonder do you know how I can contact 'Assaman' who was last posting on this forum a while ago regarding lancaster bomber DV156 ? thanks, Robert
I had a relation on this final flight. Information now available suggests the aircraft may have been downed over the Bay of Biscay by a FW 190 operating out of Brest.
