Information wanted about two RAF planes brought down in 1942
 

Hi

I’m new to this forum and would appreciate any information members can supply about two encounters with the Luftwaffe by my mother’s cousin, F/Sgt Ronald O’Neil NZ411226, as I’m trying to write up his war history for my mother.

He was the bomb aimer on Lancaster W4247 (DX-X of 57 Sqdn) that failed to return from a raid on Hamburg on 9/10 November 1942.

A friend has kindly looked up Boiten volume 1 and informed me that W4247 was one of four of the 15 bombers lost that night for which a particular pilot was credited with a ‘kill’. Noting, however, that this was ‘probably’ his Lancaster , it says this was shot down by Leutnant Hans Caspers of 1st Staffel Nachtjagdgeschwader 3. This was Caspers’ first ‘kill.’

I haven’t seen the entry myself. There was some confusion over where W4247 crashed and where my relative was buried. Early reports via the Red Cross and later British military reports based on captured German documents, stated that he was buried first at Luneburg civilian cemetery before being re-interred at the British military cemetery at Ohlsdorf in Hamburg (now looked after by the CWGC: http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_...sualty=2200711).

Later British military reports said that he had been buried first at the Ohlsdorf civilian cemetery before being re-interred at the British military cemetery.

There was confusion over identification of crew from my relatives W4247 and two other aircraft that failed to return from the same raid: Wellington BJ711 and Lancaster W4180.

Questions I’d love help with:
Does anyone know anything more about Hans Caspers and what became of him?
Where was his squadron based at the time, and was it flying Bf 110?
Does anyone know where Wellington BJ711 and Lancaster W4180 crashed?

This wasn’t the first time Ron O’Neil had crashed. Earlier with 57 Sqdn his Wellington Z1618 crashed into the North Sea when returning from a raid on Bremen on 29/30 June 1942. Again my friend has consulted Boiten and advised me that a confirmed kill by Oberleutnant Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein may have been Z1618.

So, some questions again:
Am I right in thinking that when the ace prince is likely to have encountered Ron O’Neil he was flying Junkers 88 with the 9th squadron of Nightfighter Wing 2 (9/NJG2)?
Where was he based then?

I’d be very grateful for assistance anyone can provide, and appreciate the open sharing of information on this forum.

Andrew

Re: Information wanted about two RAF planes brought down in 1942
 

Hallo,

Lancaster W4247 crashed at 20.30 near Ramelsloh, south of Hamburg.
3. Flakdivision.

Padu