Every year at this time we remember the Pathfinder crews lost due to fog and low cloud on Black Thursday, 16/17 December 1943. The Pathfinder dead for fog-related crashes were two from 83 Squadron, six from 156 Squadron, fourteen from 405 Squadron, and twenty-eight from 97 Squadron, fifty men in all. Memorial stone for the heavy losses suffered by 97 […]
We are very pleased to publish the first-hand account by Harry Furner, a mid-upper gunner with the Marsden crew, 35 Squadron, of the attack on his Lancaster by an enemy aircraft in June 1944. It is an amazing story of survival against the odds. A fellow member of 35 Squadron, […]
The Edwards crew went missing on the Courtrai operation of 20/21 July 1944. No trace of them was ever found, and they are commemorated on the Runnymede memorial. The bomb aimer on the crew was Jack Skingley. He was married with two children. His daughter, Jackie Maude, recently gave the […]
Today we remember all the Pathfinder aircrew and their ground crew who lost their lives in the 1939-1945 war. And also the dead in other units of the RAF, and of the Army and the Navy, who fought for our freedom in the same conflict. Image shows the service of […]
The Townsend crew have appeared before on this website. Except for the flight engineer, DEREK CARROTT, they were all Canadians and one of them, WING COMMANDER GRAY, was a thirty-six-year-old of comparatively senior rank flying as a gunner. The crew, who were never found, are remembered at Runnymede with the […]
Harry Bartlett of the 102 (Ceylon) Squadron Association has emailed, asking if the news could be passed on to any remaining members of the Pathfinder Association about the death and funeral details of Harry Hughes, formerly the Chairman of the 102 (Ceylon) Squadron Association and a former Chairman of the […]
We had an email recently, from Richard Curtis in Kitchener, Ontario, asking why Wing Commander Charles Gray was on the last flight of the Townsend crew, 405 Squadron. For details of the deaths of this crew on 29 July 1944, see our page: REMEMBERING DEREK. Only one body was ever […]
Amazingly, the Mosquito and aircrew in the photograph of an unknown squadron was identified very shortly after the publishing of yesterday’s post. Gary Godel, who runs the Bomber Command No.8 (Pathfinder Force) Group on Facebook, tracked down a photograph of the same Mosquito, P-Peter, with its unique nose art and […]
Does anyone recognise this picture of a Mosquito Squadron, probably at the end of the war? It is a photo which should be immediately recognisable because of the highly notable aircraft and the fabulous dog at the front. It is believed to be a Pathfinder Squadron but there is nothing […]
80TH ANNVERSARY. On 23 June 1943, a Lancaster of 97 Squadron crashed on the Dutch city of Utrecht. The Lancaster broke up while on fire in the air, and five Dutch civilians were killed when huge chunks of flaming debris fell on their houses and set them alight. Five of […]
The Pathfinders suffered heavy losses during the fourth week of June 1943. Amongst the crews who lost their lives were the crew of Maurice Edgar Rust. The crew were on a bombing operation against Mulheim on the night of 22/23 June; they crashed in the target area and all were […]
80 years ago, on the operation against Krefeld of 20/21 June 1943, 35 Squadron had a disastrous night, losing four crews in mainland Europe and one at sea. A sixth crew, that of Sergeant Milne, ditched 30 miles off Cromer on the Norfolk coast, and all were incredibly fortunate to […]
The ground crew who worked on Pathfinder aircraft were the unsung heroes of the bombing war, working hard through all weathers. Mosquito ground crew had a particularly close relationship with their aircrew, as can be seen in the main photograph in this article … READ THE FULL ARTICLE
The Path Finder Force was a small but vital facet of Bomber Command. Created in August 1942 to improve bombing accuracy, it led the other squadrons of Bomber Command, collectively known as Main Force, by marking the routes and bombing targets. So vital was the Pathfinders’ job that on 1 […]
80 years ago today, on 13 January 1943, in recognition of the outstanding results that the Path Finder Force had achieved in its first six months, it was given parity with other Bomber Command Groups by being elevated to Group status. Yet although the official name of the Path Finder […]