Lancaster 1 ME595 QR-Y 61Sqn.
 

Has anybody anymore information about the 2 aircrew shown at Hannover War Cemetery. The 'only’ crew members to fall to flak on the Braunschweig raid on 14/15.10.44. Apparently 2 boys 'stole’ the bombaimers compass and goggles after she crashed and these after so many years landed up at eBay in 2015. I found out that Sgt. Webb, after bailing out was murdered after capture. Age? Etc. The perpetrators were subsequently tried and hanged in Hameln in 1947. Does anyone know if the plane has since been dug up as it landed in a swamp. My interests are that I live in Braunschweig and my home town was near to the Lincolnshire bases.

Re: Lancaster 1 ME595 QR-Y 61Sqn.
 

A family tree on ancestry.com lists Webb as:
i can't say if its accurate or correct.

Cyril Stanley Webb
1924–1944
BIRTH 1924
DEATH 19 OCT 1944

Parents
Henry Charles Webb
1896–1974

Elsie May (nee Hillier)
1900–1984

he has or had a sister also.

Born in the summer of 1924 in the registration district of Faringdon
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/distr...bmd_1533077982

Re: Lancaster 1 ME595 QR-Y 61Sqn.
 

Here's the Flak claim for ME595 (extract from the manuscript of one of the 1944 vols in the Nachtjagd Combat Archive series):

-61 Sqn Lancaster ME595: hit by Schw. Flak Abt. 117 (o), 4./schw. Flak Abt. 627 and 4./schw. Flak Abt. 225 and crashed 2 km SE of Rieseberg, 6 km NW of Königslutter at 02.45 hrs.

Cheers, Theo

Thanks for the reply. On this night Braunschweig received the worst bombing of the war, the city centre suffering 90% destruction in the ensuing firestorm. Interesting fact too is the pilot who was F/O Norman Hoad on 14/15.10.44 who had an interesting career finishing in 1978 as Air Vice-Marshall. He was a well known and yery good artist. He has produced many examples of aircraft and the like over the years. Unfortunately he died in 2014. Word has it that ME595 had a very hard belly landing into a moor giving the 2 boys the opportunity to relieve the plane of its bombaiming compass and set of goggles and who knows what else before it sank. What happened to Sgt. G. P Boyd who died, was he still on the plane? Thanks for all your replies Gerald.

Thanks to you all.
Gerald

Re: Lancaster 1 ME595 QR-Y 61Sqn.
 

Gerald, I doubt the plane sunk, if at all. It depends on the depth of the Moor. Most likely she was salvage by the Luftwaffe, or after the war by scrap dealers.

Danny

Re: Lancaster 1 ME595 QR-Y 61Sqn.
 

ME595 had 8 aboard, including a 2nd pilot, no doubt a new arrival being shown "the ropes".
Not much information on the other casualty.
CWGC shows parents in Kent
BOYD, GEORGE PATRICK. Sergeant (Radio Operator (Air)). Service Number 1290787. Died 15/10/1944. Aged 24.
61 Sqdn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Son of George and Edith Elizabeth Boyd, of Sandwich, Kent.
Initially buried at Glentorf Cemetery, reburied 30 May 1947 at Hannover.
Buried at HANOVER WAR CEMETERY. Cemetery reference: Plot 2. Row G. Grave 15.

His birth registered 1st Qtr 1921 (could be late 1920 birth) in Dover, Kent. Mothers Maiden Name: Benn. However I can't find a George P Boyd in 1939 Register, nor can I trace an Edith Elizabeth Benn nor a marriage to a George Boyd.....
Sorry, needs a better brain than mine to find more.

You obviously have the details of F/Eng Webb's murder as detailed in "Footprints on the Sands of Time". Although shot on 19th October and originally buried at Volkenrode, he rests beside his comrade as shown in your photo in Grave 14. Presumably the CWGC had the link between Webb and Boyd due to the War Crimes Tribunal and were therefore able to place them in adjacent graves, a nice touch.

1939 Register shows
Name: Cyril Stanley Webb. Birth Date: 7 Feb 1921.
Spouse: Lilian, with 3 month old boy, Alfred, name changed from Webb to Lindley, presumably after Lilian remarried....?
Address: 24, Highbury Avenue, Rowley Regis, Staffordshire, England
Occupation: Engineer Metal and ARP warden (Works)