Mosquito 23 Sqn RAF

[68 Sqn]

San Marino Town cemetery contains two Commonwealth war graves.
These are the graves of:

Pilot: F/Sgt Donald Hepworth Bentley, 1213930 (RAFVR), died on 20.11.1943.
Navigator: Sgt Victor Horace Causeway, 1323213 (RAFVR), died on 20.11.1943.

Both from 23 Squadron RAF
Can anyone help determine what actually happened to this crew and their Mosquito?
Regards Pavel

[Hans Nauta]

Hi Pavel,

The ORB simply mentions: offensive patrol, failed to return.

It concerned Mossie HX798 YP-U, by the way.

Regards,
Hans

[68 Sqn]

Hello Hans
Very thanks. I have little doubt.
http://www.ukserials.com/serials-older-ha.htm
HX798 - Lockheed 12A

http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH9...odn%20list.txt
HX798 - Mosquito not

http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/sho...-Numbers-Types
HX792 HX792 DH90 Dragonfly de Havilland
HX793 HX793 18 Lockheed
HX794 HX794 Gull Six Percival
HX795 HX797 DH94 Moth Minor de Havilland
HX798 HX798 12A Lockheed
HX802 HX984 Mosquito VI de Havilland
HZ102 HZ981 Wellington Vickers

Hans
HX798 will probably be a mistake.
Regards Pavel

[Leendert]

Pavel,

Can't help you with the serial, but on a website dealing with WW II in San Marino it says that the a/c had crashed "a causa della nebbia", or due to fog.
Montecchio is mentioned where the a/c had come down. This appears to be a Parco Naturale in San Marino.

Regards,

Leendert

[Leendert]

Pavel,

To add to the confusion, this Italian website says "MX798", a serial that wasn't allocated at all? But somehow "798" makes its appearance again.

See http://www.aereiperduti.net/anni/agg...ti-2011-09.php

Regards,

Leendert

[Laurent Rizzotti]

The ORB shows that this crew took off at 2350 hrs on the 19th.

And the HX798 serial is not an isolated typo: the serial is listed five times in the ORB for November 1943, nothing in October, in September it is the serial HJ798 that is used with a terminaison in 798.

To complicate things a little bit more, the same ORB says that HJ798 fails to return on 1 August 1943 (actually early hours of the 2nd). According to the Mosquito production list, it was HJ789 that was lost this day.

23 Sqn also used HJ788 at this time.

Just thought now to check which serials is associated with letter U:
August: HJ717
September: HX869
October: none
November: HX798

HX869 is shown in the Mosquito production list as being DBR in MTO on 26 November 1943. It may be the right plane (23 Sqn did not fly ops from 20 to 29 November, and the ORB has no trace of an accident)

[68 Sqn]

Hi
Thanks all. Mosquito HX869 will be a step in the right direction.
Regards Pavel