Pathfinders

[denachtenmai]

I have been reading "How to gain a WW2 Pilots brevet" with fascination and co-incidentally I am having some work done at home and one of the men discovered that I had been in the RAF,he talked about how his Grandfather had been in the Pathfinders.
His name was Cyril Johnson and he was a F/Sgt, but was promoted to W/O whilst in captivity, on, he thinks, 156 Sqdn. at Warboys. He thinks he was a Navigator and was shot down and taken POW around Mannheim, about end 1942 early 1943. He was a POW inStalag 4B and talked about the thousand mile march.
Can anyone elaborate, or did anyone know him? maybe they have the wrong Sqdn. because I have been to the 156 website and cannot find anything.
I have also asked this question in the WW2 forums.World War II Forums
Many thanks in advance. Den

[Wader2]

Originally Posted by denachtenmai

I have been reading "How to gain a WW2 Pilots brevet" with fascination and co-incidentally I am having some work done at home and one of the men discovered that I had been in the RAF,he talked about how his Grandfather had been in the Pathfinders.
His name was Cyril Johnson and he was a F/Sgt, but was promoted to W/O whilst in captivity, on, he thinks, 156 Sqdn. at Warboys. He thinks he was a Navigator and was shot down and taken POW around Mannheim, about end 1942 early 1943. He was a POW inStalag 4B and talked about the thousand mile march.
Can anyone elaborate, or did anyone know him? maybe they have the wrong Sqdn. because I have been to the 156 website and cannot find anything.
I have also asked this question in the WW2 forums.World War II Forums
Many thanks in advance. Den

DEn, are you trying to get information for your builder?

There is a set of volumes of Bomber Command losses, one for each year of the war. You could browse through those volumes as it lists the crews of every aircraft that failed to return.

Out IO at Waddo said that he flew only one mission as a sgt nav and was shot down. It was the first Ruhr raid after the Dams Raid. I looked and sure enough he was there.

In this case you could simply flip to each 156 sqn loss for the period starting in Aug 42. Then widen the search to include the other pathfinder sqns. "7, 35, 83 and 156 squadrons of the Pathfinder Force"

[November4]

Am at work now but will check in the Bomber Command Losses tonight for you if no one else has done it before then.

[Wensleydale]

Flt Sgt C Johnson (if it is the same one) joined 156 Sqn in 1943. He flew 16 missions - being shot down on 5th Sep 43 over Mannheim. The Lancaster JA858 was piloted by Fg Off Pritchard and was shot down at 18,000 ft by a night fighter. Two gunners died: johnson became a prisoner of war.

Source the 156 Sqn website.

W

[Brian Dixon]

This, from the Lost Bombers website:
Lost Bombers - World War II Lost Bombers

Regards,
Brian

[denachtenmai]

Thanks to all replies, the info is most helpful, and is also backed up by ww2f, really chuffed that I can show him how to go about researching his Granddad's past, also very pleased that you all took the time to help
Many thanks, regards, Den

[November4]

BCL records that Lancaster Mk III JA858 GT+Y took off from Warboys at 1930

FO JC PRitchard RAAF PoW
Sgt C Johnson PoW
FO TD Ferres RAAF PoW
FO CR Norton RAAF PoW
Sgt W Friend Pow
Sgt D Grout killed
FS HJ Simpson RAAF killed

Aircraft beleived to have crashed in Germany after being shot down from 18,000 feet by a night fighter

[Brewers Droop]

This from the Key Publishing Aviation Website (Fascinating thread including pictures of the crashed aircraft, clues on where the crew were buried and location of the crash).

Trying to identify Lancaster wreck - Page 2 - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums