Free French No. 344 Wellington crew August 18, 1943
 

Dear all,

in morning hours of August 18, 1943 off Dakar, a Wellington crew of No. 344 (Free French) Squadron RAF attacked and sunk German submarine U-403.
Aircraft serial should be HZ697. They dropped six depth charges.
Are there known any details of the French crew?

Same U-Boot was attacked on August 17 by Hudson of No 200 Sq (F/O P R Horbat)

On July 30, same U-Boot was attacked by airplanes of USS Santee.

Thanks in advance for advice!
Merci!

Re: Free French No. 344 Wellington crew August 18, 1943
 

Jan: I believe that 344 Sqn was not formed until 29 November 1943 and this is in my Do 17 book:


Kapitänleutnant Karl-Franz Heine returned to serve on U-boats and would be killed on 18 August 1943 commanding U-403 which was sunk south-west of Dakar by after being damaged by a Hudson of 200 Sqn flown by Fg Off Philip Harbot on 17 August 1943 and finally sunk the following day by a French Wellington flown by Premier Maitre Chevanton of the newly formed 2 Flottille de Bombardement; all of the U-boat's 49 crew were killed.

Re: Free French No. 344 Wellington crew August 18, 1943
 

Chris,

thank you. I failed to notice that. I can see it now - page 223.

Jan

Re: Free French No. 344 Wellington crew August 18, 1943
 

Of interest I have a photo of HZ704

Re: Free French No. 344 Wellington crew August 18, 1943
 

There is a book on 2 F

https://www.aviation-bookshop.com/sh...que-1940-1953/

I do not have a copy but it might be interesting

Martin

Re: Free French No. 344 Wellington crew August 18, 1943
 

Maybe someone from France can tell us what it says about this incident if they have this book? When researching it for my book, French contacts came up blank!

Re: Free French No. 344 Wellington crew August 18, 1943
 

[quote=Chris Goss;301027]Jan: I believe that 344 Sqn was not formed until 29 November 1943
Premier Maitre Chevanton /QUOTE]

This was PM Pierre Chevanton who was a rather old pilot, having received his wings on 10 Nov 1928. He had arrived to England in March 1943 to convert to Wellingtons.

The odd thing is that I have a LV Ernest Bigo as the pilot in command of this aircraft on the 18th. He was also among the pilots who arrived at the same time as Chevanton to England. Bigo got his wings on 1 Aug 1940.

The aircraft HZ697 was transferred to 2FB on 13 Aug 1943 and carried the code 26-Q

Chris
What do you have on Bigo?

Jan
How are you able to ID the aircraft used on 18 Aug as HZ697?

My source to the above is the book 'L'Aeronautique Navale Francaise au Royaume-Uni 1940-46' by Jean-Marie Commeau (No I don't have the book 2F also from Ardhan as referred to by Martin)

Cheers
Stig

Re: Free French No. 344 Wellington crew August 18, 1943
 

Stig


I have nothing on Bigo

Re: Free French No. 344 Wellington crew August 18, 1943
 

OK Chris

Pity. I am waiting to see if someone on this forum has the book about 2F. If not I will ask some of my French friends to see if they have it.

Cheers
Stig

Re: Free French Wellington crew August 18, 1943
 

Hello Stig,

I have got the serial number here:
http://u-boot-archiv.de/dieboote/u0403.html