105 Sqn 23 May 1944

[Chris Goss]

An Me 410 of II./KG 51 damaged two 105 Sqn Mosquitos at RAF Bourn at 0320hrs on 23 May 44-anyone have any idea of the serials? They were returning from an mission and the intruder delayed the others from getting back

[Dave Wallace]

Nothing definitive but the ORB states the attack took place at 03:10 am when Mosquitos were returning from LeMans and Orleans. ML987 (S/L Peter Channer/F/O Bernard LeSueur) had landed 02:55 and was the only one of the 8 Mosquitos from those two targets on the ground, so it was probably one of the two hit. That leaves 7 in the air during the attack, one of which was damaged. The other Mosquitos began landing at 04:10, one hour after the intruder attack began. My guess would be the first one cleared to land would be the Mosquito that had been hit in the air. That would have been F/L Kenneth Wolstenholme and F/L Vivian Piper in ML974 landing at 04:10. Far from certain but the most likely candidates.

[Chris Goss]

Thanks Dave I will dig deeper

[Chris Goss]

A check by Ian Thirsk reveals no recorded damage to these two aircraft