Beaufighter serial numbers

[Brian]

Hi guys
I'm seeking the serial numbers of Beaufighters lost on the following dates, please

46 Squadron
18/10/43

47 Squadron
5/11/43 (two)
6/11/43 (two)
26/11/43
13/2/44

108 Squadron
1/10/44 ?KV903

252 Squadron
16/5/44
25/5/44
19/6/44
28/7/44
1/8/44 (two)
23/9/44

603 Squadron
13/4/44
15/5/44
30/8/44
13//9/44
16/9/44


I hope to find some of these on my next visit to Kew, but many ORBs are of little help. So just the odd one or two will be of assistance.
Cheers
Brian

[Observer1940]

Hello Brian

When I cannot find much about a loss, or nothing about an aircraft loss in Squadron ORBs, I would try the Group ORBs and Appendices in AIR 25 and then branch out further from there, to Command.

Where there is no Accident Card and seemingly no other information, others and myself have resorted to viewing (in your case the Beaufighter) Aircraft Cards A.M. 78 (in Serial Number order by aircraft type) on film at the RAF Museum, which should have both a loss date and a strike off date (with reference to either the Squadron / RAF Station, or both) and from there you can get an aircraft serial number.

But this can be labour intensive, as they are in RAF serial number order (rather than date order) and also one particular aircraft type can be on several reels!!

I had a very quick look at David Smith's Crash Log but no help, which I presume you have already anyway?

Mark

[Brian]

Thanks for your response Mark

Time is now against me and I am therefore relying on the knowledge of our Beaufighter experts!

Cheers
Brian

[Laurent Rizzotti]

603 Sqn RAF, 3 October 1944:

Ten Beaufighters of 603 Sqn RAF, led by Wing Co Fowley-Norris, took off at mid-day, accompanied by two of 252 Sqn, to hunt for the German minelayer Zeus of 2423 tons, off the east coast of the mainland of Greece. This vessel, the former Italian merchant ship Francesco Morosini, was considered a prime target, for she was playing an important part in the evacuation of the Greek islands. One Beaufighter of 603 Sqn turned back with engine trouble. The others didn’t find Zeus but came across a convoy of five small vessels to the east of Athens and attacked. Rockets and cannon fire damaged 3 of the vessels, but return fire was intense and two Beaufighters of 603 Sqn were shot down. The pilot of the first, Sgt Desmond Harrison, was killed, but his navigator, Sgt Derek V Bannister, was later reported to be “safe in friendly hands’’. The other crew was Flg Off Casimir Marmaduke De Bounevialle and Plt Off A E “Gillie’’ Potter. Bounevialle ditched with his starboard engine on fire, not far from the position where he had ditched 6 weeks earlier. The two men were not injured, but were picked-up by a UJ-boat and taken to Piraeus, ending in a POW camp in Germany. The two lost aircraft were the NT893 (listed as missing on shipping strike) and the NV205 (ditched off western coast of Kea) but which crew was aboard which aircraft is not known to me.

Source:
"The Armed Rovers. Beauforts and Beaufighters over the Mediterranean", by Roy C Nesbit. ISBN 1-85310-517-1
Henk Welting on RAF Commands forum: http://www.rafcommands.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=7604&forum=DCForumID 6&archive=yes

16 Sqn SAAF:

12 March 1944 (and not 11):
A Bristol Beaufighter Mk X, allocated to 16 Squadron suffered engine failure during an operational mission. The crew of two did not survive the ditching into the sea off Kimolos island. Serial number reported to have been NE-248 ‘D’.
Source: http://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB3/viewto...2460&start=120 (loss date confirmed by CWGC)

15 June 1944: no trace in above source

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Date of 12 March for the 16 SAAF loss confirmed in the book "Eagles victorious: The operations of the South African forces over the Mediterranean and Europe, in Italy, the Balkans and the Aegean, and from Gibraltar and West Africa", by Henry James Martin and Neil D. Orpen. ISBN: 0868430080

Citation of the book, pages 181-182 (the squadron is 16 Sqn SAAF):
"On 11 March all available aircraft — ten Beaufighters altogether — were ordered to Gambut for a special operation. At 1.40 pm next day Maj A. Bell led three of them through the Kasos Straits between Crete and Scarpanto, then past the islands of Thira and Milos and over Monemvasia, in a wide circle which swept the southern Aegean. They were near Kimolos (Kamila) Island when Capt R. J. Clements saw splashes in the water ahead of him and deduced that they were caused by long-range 20 mm fire from an enemy aircraft. Almost at the same time Maj A. Bell reported engine trouble and turned north-east, apparently heading for the Turkish coast.
Ten minutes later, Bell’s aircraft hit the water, a wing broke up and it burst into flame. Lt ‘Shorty’ Stead, the observer, was seen in a dinghy and Maj Bell was seen doing backstroke towards it. The surviving Beaufighters flew back to base via Antikithera, between Crete and Greece."