most Lancaster missions

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Another possible for the record: Charles Peter Craufurd de Wesselow. He was the Master Bomber for the Dresden Raid on 13/14 February 1945, and was at the time flying his 3rd tour, it was his 72nd operation according to the book "Bomber Command Reflections of War: Armageddon: September 27th 1944 - May 1945", by Martin Bowman.

I have it in the ORB of 97 Sqn, flying first as a Flg Off on 3-4 September 1943. He was awarded the DFC in December 1943 and flew 32 nights with the squadron (according to a quick search in a Word version of the ORB I have, but I don't know how much of these were early turn-backs not counting). In April 1944 he went to HQ 8 (Pathfinder) Group. During the summer he was flying with 635 Sqn.

In September 1943 he had a rank of Flg Off and apparently no medal, so it probably was his first turn, but I have no proof of it. Especially he flew no op as a 2nd pilot but started directly as a first.

EXCEPT that just before September 1943, the ORB as a Plt Off, then Flg Off G de Wesselow arriving from 1661 CU on 23 June 1943 flying 13 times between 28-29 June 1943 and 31 August-1 September 1943.

Except the initials all details are the same for "both" men, so my guess is that it is the same guy, who then took off for 45 operations (a check of the ORB will allow to know how much reached Europe).

During this periode, 97 Sqn flew Lancaster, so this guy probably flew all ops in Lancaster, and if he was flying his 72nd in February 1945 he probably flew more before the end of the war.

So no proof, but if someone can provide more details on this guy, he may be ahead of Florent Van Rolleghem.

Best regards