December 3/4 1943 raid on Leipzig
Regle,
I have just jointed the form and started reading this fascinating thread. I am hoping this thread is still active. My father, George Milliken and his twin brother Douglas were both RAF/RCAF. My father recently passed away which has motivated the children to research their lives especially during there service. My father was a pilot and flew HP hampdens from 1941 to 43 (in the end with coastal command sqn 415) returning home in mid '44 to train pilots. Doug was a Halifax rear gunner KIA on the Leipzig raid. I have added all the crew member names at the bottom of this note in case you knwe any of them. The entire crew of HR732 was lost without trace and are memorialized at Runnymede. To date there has been no crash site identified and the bodies have not been found. We are quite sure they crashed over land because three years after the war ended the wedding ring of the pilot (Arthur Salvage) was returned to the widow. It was in a severly blackened condition suggesting fire however she was able to identify it. The historians at the sqn 51 website are faboulous - they have given me a tremdous amount of information including contact information for decendants of five of the seven crew members. One thing we are trying to do is gather more information about the Leipzig raid. If you remember any details of that raid I would very much appreciate if you could share your story. I am mostly interested in your personal experience such as the events during the day (before taking off), the weather, flight plan, any significant event during the raid and any other details you may recall. We have unconfirmed information that initially this raid was intended for Berlin however changed at the last minute (possibly due to weather conditions)? There were 527 aircraft on this raid (220 halifaxes and 307 lanc) - 15 halifaxes and 9 lancs were downed. Two of the downed halifaxes were from sqn 51. One was Dougs the other (HR782) was downed just north of Frankfurt nearing the Belguim boarder - do you know why they would be so far south of Leipzig on the home leg? We have one report the weather was fair and another high winds with driving rain. Your recollection of this raid would be most appreciated.
Thanks!
HR732 crew
P.O. A. J. Salvage Captain
SGT. W.W.B. Hamilton Flight Engineer
P.O. F.J. Baker Navigator
F/S I.G. Davies Bomb Aimer
SGT. M.Hampson Wireless Operator
SGT R.J. Edwards Air Gunner
SGT D. W. Milliken (RCAF) Air Gunner