The list of operational flights the crew undertook has been obtained from the logbook of the pilot, Thomas Kneale, and the surviving member of the crew, Gordon Fortier. Having been allowed to make copies of both logbooks on the memorial dedication day I have spent some time comparing the entries before compiling this
webpage. To be able to view such logbooks from this period is very interesting for air historians as it adds much more detail to the crew's record than is often shown
in the squadron operation record book, logbooks also show aircrew training through their progression from trainees to an operational crew and further re-training to becoming operational again.
These five crew were later posted to 426 Squadron and flew a series of seven training flights with 426 Squadron between 16th and 20th May before commencing operational flying on 21st May 1943. They flew one minelaying operational flight on this date before being posted on attachment to 1535 Beam Approach Training
(B.A.T.) Flight at Middleton St.George which took four days. On completion of this training they returned to their parent squadron and completed a further operational flight in a Wellington on 11th June 1943. 426 Squadron begun converting to flying the Lancaster soon after and the crew were posted to 1679 Heavy Conversion Unit (H.C.U.) to convert. Here they picked up their flight engineer Sgt Marks who became a regular member of the crew. Upon completion
of this course they returned to 426 Squadron and continued operational flying in Lancasters. They did not team up
with the second air gunner, Sgt Fortier, at 1679 H.C.U. as was more common. Sgt Fortier was posted directly into
426 Squadron as a "spare" gunner and became a regular of Kneale's crew on their return to the parent squadron.
The major point of contention with regard this crew is who was the rear gunner when it crashed at Yearsley. The belief is
Sgt Fortier was the rear gunner and he survived as his turret broke away in the early stages of the crash thus saving him.
Sgt Fortier's daughter believed that he was a rear gunner and the Commanding Officer of 426 Squadron at the time of the incident
also believed that he was the rear gunner. Who am I to disagree with these superbly placed accounts, however, to me, Sgt Fortier's
position in Tom Kneale's crew was more likely to have been the mid-upper gunner had the crew remained in their fixed positions.
Kneale and his initial five crew formed at 23 O.T.U. as previously mentioned, here Sgt Johnston was the only air gunner in the
crew and with the Wellington having no mid-turret his position could only have been in the rear turret. As the crew converted to
Lancasters he remained the only air gunner in the crew and the aircraft would not have been allowed in the air in these training flights
without a rear gunner so he must have taken his place in the rear turret during this training. When the crew were posted back to 426 Squadron it was
without a second air gunner it seems more likely that Sgt Fortier would have taken the place of the mid upper gunner as it was
not common for a settled rear gunner to be moved to the mid upper turret favouring a less experienced airman taking his place
in the rear turret. This is pure speculation on my part and I would welcome further documention to confirm
it either way. One crash report, the AM Form 765c, should give the answer but copies do not remain in the UK. However Canadian
casualty files do still contain these reports and is perhaps the final clue.
I have made two other observerations however which could back up Fortier as infact being the rear gunner; firstly, during their
operational flights Johnston is listed lastly in the crew list in Kneale's logbook until 20th October 1943. After this date Fortier
is listed lastly. It was common for rear gunners to be listed last in such crew lists and it could be that Johnston
and Fortier switched positions after 20th October 1943. This therefore backs up the theory of Fortier being rear gunner. My second observation was from a collection of family photographs brought to the memorial dedication by Sgt Fortier's daughter, in one photograph he is pictured standing beside a Lancaster rear turret in a Canadian museum; beside is old "office". Again this backs up him being a rear gunner at one point during his wartime flying but not necessarialy at 426 Squadron because
Sgt Fortier recovered from his injuries and after a period of refresher training he was posted to 432 Squadron. I would suggest that here he certainly was
a rear gunner at some point before the War ended but this is not 100% confirmation that he was when the accident at Yearsley occured.
The memorial shows Sgt Fortier as mid upper gunner but during the dedication service it was pointed out that this was an error and there was a hope to correct it in the future. My research shown here was done in the days after the memorial dedication and it could be that the memorial is infact correct and no correction is needed. I hope this helps to explain the situation!!
21st May 1943 - Wellington "X" - Mine laying off Ameland Island. 4.40hrs. Landed at Graveley airfield on return.
11th June 1943 - Wellington "R" - Ops to Dusseldorf. Successful. 5.25hrs.
22nd August 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Leverkausen. 4.55hrs.
23rd August 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Berlin. Successful. 7.30hrs.
27th August 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Nuremburg. Successful. Shot up by flak on return. 8.15hrs.
30th August 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Munchen-Gladbach. Successful. Swell trip. 4.50hrs.
5th September 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Mannheim. Successful. 7.10hrs.
6th September 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Munich. Attacked by fighter, no damage. 7.40hrs Landed at Ford airfield on return. Flew with Sgt Davies as second pilot.
7th October 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Stuttgart. Successful. Very quiet trip. 7.00hrs. Landed at East Moor airfield on return.
8th October 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Hanover. Successful. Good show over target area. 4.40hrs. Landed at Snetterton Heath airfield on return.
20th October 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Leipzig. Successful. Airspeed indictor u/s after leaving target area, good landing. 7.45hrs.
3rd November 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Dusseldorf. C.S.U.P.O. U/S. Fired upon by Halifax - one hole. G.H. 4.40hrs.
23rd November 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Berlin. Weather bad. Successful. Coned in searchlights for 5 minutes. Brush with night-fighter. 6.45hrs.
26th November 1943 - Lancaster DS708 "Q" - Ops to Berlin. Successful. Bags of searchlights and flak. 7.20hrs.
3rd December 1943 - Lancaster DS763? "O" - Ops to Leipzig. Turned back, instruments u/s. Unsuccessful. 2.00hrs.
16th December 1943 - Lancaster DS837 "Q" - Ops to Berlin. Crashed in England. 7.00hrs.
The first aircraft was Lancaster DS615 which soon passed to a training role with 1679 Heavy Conversion Unit. It was flown by Kneale and crew on a handful of training flights before
being transferred away. DS715 was destroyed in a collision with Halifax DT548 on 21st December 1943 at Topcliffe which sadly cost the lives of four airmen. DS615's pilot on this
occasion was one F/O J J McGavock DFC; he had flown with Kneale and crew while they were training at 1679 H.C.U. and was an instructor there having completed an
operational Tour with 426 Squadron earlier in the year.
DS615 was replaced at 426 Squadron by Lancaster DS708 and given the same "OW-Q" code and later a small nose-art drawing depicting the "Queen of Spades" playing card.
Kneale and crew flew many of their Lancaster operational flights in DS708 but it was badly damaged by flak on 2nd December 1943 on Ops to Berlin
while flown by P/O Donald Berry and crew. After struggling back to England on only two engines it was landed at Manston aircraft
in the south of England. Berry later completed his Tour and was awarded the DFC, the DFC citation refered to him bringing the damaged DS708 back to the UK on this night. DS708 was sent away for repair following this flak incident and replaced.
DS708 was replaced immediately by Lancaster DS837 and test flown by Kneale and crew on 8th December 1943. It was
lost on it's first operational flight with this crew on 16th December 1943 at Yearsley.
Above is the only known photograph of Lancaster DS708 which shows the aircraft's small nose art depicting "Queen of Spades". Below
is a model of a Lancaster B.II painted to show the identity of DS708 and it's nose art but in it's later 408 Squadron livery. The photograph below
was found on the internet. The photographs of the crew shown on the main webpage to the loss at Yearsley shows the men stood infront of
a Lancaster, it is also probable that this was also DS708.
DS708 started it's operational life with 426 Squadron and completed sixteen operational flights with 426 Squadron, following a period of repair lasting four
months it returned to 426 Squadron but was re-coded "OW-D" to complete another four further operational flights. It was then transferred to 408 Squadron and
initially coded "EQ-A" and later re-coded "EQ-Q". It was badly damaged on the night of 27th/28th June 1944 which injured its then mid upper gunner. Further
repairs were undertaken and it was returned to 408 Squadron. In February 1945 it was transferred to Shorts Brothers at Rochester where modifications were made
at the request of the RAE. After being used for flying trials it was abandoned and became derelict at Foulness Island before being eventually
officially written off and scrapped in 1950.
The five original members of the crew
were posted to 426 Squadron in early May 1943 and at that time 426 Squadron were using Wellingtons. These five airmen would have met and
formed themselves into a Wellington crew at 23 Operational Training Unit (O.T.U.) in March 1943 with the five being: Kneale, Jones, MacKay, Prill and Johnston.
Below is a list of the operational flights Thomas Kneale and his crew made with 426 Squadron. I aim on identifying all aircraft
used by this crew in their operational flying but have not yet consulted the operation record book. The red test below is
as it was written in the logbooks, the black text shows my additional comments.
(C.S.U.P.O. U/S. possibly means Constant Speed Unit Port Outer engine unservicable) (The meaning of G.H. is not known)
As can be seen; Lancaster "OW-Q" became a regular aircraft of Thomas Kneale and his crew but during their time with 426 Squadron three Lancasters carried this code...
