159 Sqn Liberator in combat with Luftwaffe night fighter 28/29 June 42

[phasselgren]

Hi,

I found the following information in the ORB of No.242 Wing:
On the night 28/29 June 1942 5 Liberators of No.159 Squadron bombed zig-zag road at Halfya Pass and Sollum escarpment. On the same night 7 Liberators of Halvorsens detachment attacked Tobruk between 0100 and 0135 hours.
“One of 159 squadron attacked by ME 110 and one engaged monoplane. Aircraft damaged by burst from ME. Two gunners hurt – one killed. Rear gunner saw direct hit from return fire and ME 110 going down. Another unidentified aircraft a/c firing tracer seen at Sollum. Four aircraft of Halvorsens saw fighters – one claiming hit with return fire.”

Is it possible to identify the Liberator damaged by the Bf 110 and its crew? Neither of the ORBs of the 159 and 160 Sqns has anything on this operation.

The CWGC site has no loss for 159 Sqn on this night but air gunner Sgt Benjamin Thompson, RAFVR 1096378 of 160 Sqn was killed on this night. Thompson is only mentioned once in the 160 Sqn ORB. On the 1 June he flew a convoy escort with the following crew:
W.O. Adam (pilot), Sgt Wilson (2nd pilot), F/Sgts Winfield and Smith, Sgts Bain, Morrison, O’Shea and Thompson. Aircraft was fired on by convoy. Sgt O’Shea was killed and aircraft damaged. Wilson later had his own crew often flying with Bain and Morrison.

A History of the Mediterranean Air War mentions the attack on Tobruk by Halvorsens detachment but has nothing about the operations by 159 Sqn (probably because it was missing in the squadron ORB). It seems likely to me that the attacking “ME 110” was a Ju 88 C-6 or did the Zerstörers operate by night?

Comments are welcome.

Regards,
Peter

[bearoutwest]

Hello Peter,

I had a quick look in James Oughton's book "The Liberator in RAF & Commonwealth Service", and here's a quick summary of the Middle East Liberator IIs:

AL511
108 Sqn [A]. Night of 3/4-5-42, shot down by Ju88 (or Bf110) of 1/NJG.2 raiding Tripoli Harbour.

AL520
160 Sqn detachment (under 120 Sqn). 1-6-42, shot up convoy, one crew killed. By road to SAL.

AL534
159 Sqn. FTR raid on Benghazi 23-Jul-42.

AL537
159 Sqn [S]. Shot down by flak during raid on Tobruk 24-8-42.

AL542
159 Sqn. DBR landing accident 3-7-42..

AL548
160 Sqn [R]. FTR raid on Maleme, Crete 28.10.42.

AL551
1445 Flt. Damaged 20.7.42, repaired by SAL.

AL554
159 Sqn. Ran out of fuel returning from raid on Tobruk 19-7-42, force landed on sand dunes in Palestine.

AL566
159 Sqn. Shot down by flak during raid on Benghazi 15-7-42.

AL584
160 Sqn. Damaged 24-7-42.

AL620
159 Sqn [S], 160 Sqn Detachment [S]. Lost 14/15-1-43 on raid to bomb Tripoli.

AL638
159 Sqn [X], 160 Sqn detachment [X].6-10-42, damaged on landing due to enemy action.
178 Sqn [X]. 4-3-43 shot down by night fighter on raid to Naples.

The squadrons seemed to share aircraft under detachment quite regularly, so perhaps your Liberator in question wasn't operating as part of 159 Sqn, hence not appearing in the war diary of that squadron. I only looked through the LB-30/Liberator II listings.

Regards,
...geoff

[bearoutwest]

Peter,

Are you aware of Ron Quirk's website?
http://www.rquirk.com/med/med.htm

He has an interest in RCAF involvement in WW2, and has looked into the RAF Liberator Squadrons in the Middle East and Burma with RCAF personnel. The website has included the Form 540/541s for 159 and 160 Squadrons, and some squadron records. They're not complete as yet, and are more in depth for 1943 than 1942, but he does update whenever he has nmore data.

Regards,
...geoff

[phasselgren]

Geoff,

Excuse me for the late reply. Thanks for the information from The Liberator in RAF & Commonwealth Service.

I have seen Ron Quirk's website and I have been in Contact with him a few times. He has been very helpful and shared some information. The main problem is that the ORBs from both 159 and 160 Sqns are incomplete in June and July 1942. During the transfer from England to India both units sent their ground parties by boat and the aircrew flew via Mediterranean. The unplanned stop and involvement in the Mediterranean conflict must have created much confusion.

I am trying to fill the holes in the Sqn ORBs with information from ORB of No.242 Wing but much of the detailed information like crew lists is not included on the Wing level.

Regards,
Peter

[bearoutwest]

Hello Peter,

I think “confusion with records” is the name of the game with the RAF Middle East Liberator squadrons, they never seem to be homogenous outfits, with mixtures in equipment, intended bases, transfers to Burma, etc.

I had a quick look through my limited notes and books, and it surprised me how ad-hoc the squadrons were:
- 108Sqn – flew a mixture of Wellingtons and Liberators from late 1941, until “formalising” the arrangement with A-Flight (Wellingtons) and B-Flight (Liberator IIs) in May 1942 but with regular detachments.

- 159 Sqn – operating in Egypt/Palestine for most of late-1942, before relocating to India.

- 160 Sqn – this is the really unusual outfit. Equipped with Liberator IIs and intended for operations out of India, but retained in UK-based Coastal Command for a time for additional training in over-sea and shipping attack intended against Japanese Naval Task forces in the Indian Ocean. Eventually sent to Palestine for Malta convoy support and occasional bombing raids. Renamed 160 Sqn (ME Detachment) as a new UK-based Coastal Command squadron was formed as 160 Sqn. 160 Sqn [ME] eventually to be renamed/absorbed into 178 Squadron.

How do you managed to keep track of a paper trail like that!?! What also surprised me when I tabulated the losses/damaged before, was the relatively high numbers of Liberators lost to flak rather than fighters.

No problems with late reply. Good luck with the search.

Regards,
…geoff

[phasselgren]

Hello Geoff,

Interesting to read that 160 Sqn was intended to attack Japanese Naval Task forces. Explains why this unit was used so often against Axis convoys.

The relatively large number of daylight attacks against convoys and harbours make this unit unique and for me extra interesting. These Daylight operations must have been pretty hair-raising. There is a comment in the 242 Wing ORB after the convoy attack on the 6 October 1942 when 3 Luftwaffe fighters were destroyed or heavily damaged: This operation although unsuccessful, completed the good work of 1/10 (when enemy aircraft were shot down) by “Laying the boogie of daylight sorties”.

Regards,
Peter

[bearoutwest]

Peter,
The RAF operations with the modified LB-30s (Liberator IIs) with Boulton Paul mid-upper turrets has always interested me, but there seems to be very little written about them in terms of aircraft monographs or crew biographies/unit histories. Have you encountered any books or magazine articles of that nature, that I can chase up?

Regards,
...geoff

[phasselgren]

Geoff,
Unfortunately not much. Matt Poole mentioned Chocks Away!, the memoir of W/Cdr J. Leighton Beck DFC & Bar. It has some information about his service with 159 Sqn in the Mediterranean and India. Bombers Over Sand and Snow: 205 Group RAF in World War II by Alun Granfield also has some info but I am still looking for a really good book on this subject.
Regards,
Peter

[bearoutwest]

Thanks Peter.

The book on 205 Group sounds like it might also cover the Halifax operations - definitely the Wellingtons. So a good place to start.

Regards,
...geoff

[AndreasB]

Not directly relevant to the question at hand, but some early history of the Liberators in the desert with No. 108 Squadron:

http://rommelsriposte.com/2012/03/26...in-the-desert/

All the best

Andreas