Individual Pathfinder aircrew and their squadrons
The task of taking out coastal batteries ahead of the invasion of Normandy was a vital one. It aimed at dramatically reducing casualties when the beach landings were made, and thus required multiple targets to be located and target-marked using Oboe-equipped Mosquitoes. The heavy bombers would then follow on to […]
November 2026 will see the 80th anniversary of the rescue of the crew and passengers of an American C-53 aircraft which crash-landed at the Gauli Glacier in the Swiss Bernese Alps. Due to the wintery Alpine weather, it was a matter of urgency that the survivors should be rescued as […]
The attack on Friedrichshafen on the night of 27/28 April 1944 led to the loss of one of the RAF’s true heroes, Wing Commander Guy Lockhart, DSO, DFC and Bar. He had had an extraordinary career as a pilot, including with 138 (Special Duties) Squadron in the hazardous role of […]
Jack Davidson, a 35 Squadron wireless operator/air gunner, owed his life to the selfless actions of his crewmates, who after he had been seriously wounded in a fighter attack made sure he had a parachute attached to his harness and pushed him out of the escape hatch. To read the […]
New article by Sean Feast. On 23 February 1945, Ted Swales took his final flight as Master Bomber for a raid on Pforzheim. What happened on that flight became the stuff of legend after Swales lost his life in making sure that all his crew were safe. Within 24 hours […]
For Remembrance Day every year we choose one airman or airwoman to stand for all the Pathfinders who lost their lives in the war. This year it is Taffy Jones who was killed when he was a prisoner of war. James Ellis Jones, known to his friends as Taffy because […]
WING COMMANDER JAMES HARDY MARKS, CO of 35 Squadron, Path Finder Force, died on 19 September 1942. He was a Pathfinding legend. This new article by Sean Feast tells of what happened on the night of his death, as related by an eye-witness on his crew, Bill Higgs. Death of […]
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the raid on the development site for Hitler’s rocket programme. The raid on Peenemunde on the night of 17/18 August 1943 was remarkable for many reasons, not least the incredible skill and bravery shown by the men of the Path Finder Force led, for the […]
Tomorrow, 15 August, is the anniversary of the foundation of the Path Finder Force in 1942. For a change, this year we are marking the anniversary with a feature about some erks, those invaluable hard-working men who toiled in all weathers to keep the aircraft flying. This new webpage concentrates […]
As the end of the war had approached, Bomber Command Lancasters had begun flying to Brussels and other liberated European airfields to collect freed prisoners of war. American aircraft of the USAAF also brought back ex-prisoners. After the German surrender, German airfields could also be used in what was known […]
It is very good news to hear that the memorial to the Coates crew has already been adopted by the local school in Weebosch village. Every 25th March, on the anniversary of the crash, the children will clean the memorial and lay flowers of remembrance for the crew. Ad van […]
NEWS FLASH: Today, 16 December, there was supposed to be a dedication ceremony at RAF Wyton for the new memorial to Black Thursday, but unfortunately it had to be cancelled on the authority of the Station Commander. A different date will be arranged in the New Year. Every year at […]
Leo Janssen writes: Boxmeer is located in the province of North Brabant, Netherlands, in the upper south-east of the country. Our group researching airplane crashes and emergency landings in the Second World War in the region around Boxmeer began some 10 years ago. Before that time many individual researchers were […]
A very fine monument to the Rickinson crew was recently unveiled at Eemnes, a small village in the centre of the Netherlands. The Rickinson crew of 83 Squadron, stationed at RAF Wyton, were lost on the Duisburg operation of 12/13 May 1943. The crew were: Pilot: F/Lt Leslie Arthur Rickinson, […]
Today is the anniversary of the famous Operation Chastise, the raid on the German dams by Guy Gibson’s 617 Squadron, which took place on the night of 16/17 May 1943. To mark the anniversary, we are publishing an article by Clive Smith, 106 Squadron Researcher: FROM GIBSON’S 106 SQUADRON TO […]