Crew of
Wellington BJ661 in 1942. In front is Sgt.
John Gilbertson, Back row left to right:
Sgt.
William Titcomb, Sgt. Alan Rutherford, Sgt.
Ron Callaghan and Sgt. Martin Byrne.
After a
training period at 23 O.T.U. the crew was
stationed with 75
(NZ) Squadron, flying the Wellington bombers.
75 Sqn was based at Feltwell in Norfolk.
After being
posted with 75 Sqn, the crew was broken up
to fly familiarity operations with
experienced crews. Not long later
Gilbertson, Byrne and Rutherfold were flying
their first mission as a crew to Duisburg.
On 26/27 July 1942 they flew a mission to
Hamburg. Two nights later, on 29 July
1942 the RAF attacked Hamburg again with 256
bombers. Many of the bombers tasked were not
able to take off due to bad weather
conditions. It was to be Flight Sergeant
Byrne's 10th sortie. He and his crew
took off in Wellington III BJ661-X, between
22.35 and 23.00 from their base Feltwell,
Norfolk. Seventeen Wellingtons of 75 Sqn took part
in this raid.
The mission
took the BJ661 over the English coast at
Cromer and then to Melsdorf near the mouth
of the river Elbe. There the BJ661 turned to
the south towards Hamburg. The Wellingtons
of 75 squadron were to attack the city in
the second of three waves. F/S Gilbertson's
crew was one of only 68 bombers to attack
the city. Many others were unable to find
the target.
After dropping
their bombs, the plane flew to Soltau where
it turned to fly back to England, across
German occupied The Netherlands. Flying over
the IJsselmeer, the Wellington was attacked
by a German night fighter. Despite the
watchful eyes of rear gunner Sgt. Titcomb
and nose gunner Sgt. Rutherford, the German
night fighter, 23 year old Leutnant Wolfgang
Kuthe, managed to steer his Me110 unseen
underneath the Wellington. At 03.05 he
opened fire and hit the Wellington. Rear
gunner Titcomb shouted instructions over the
intercom to F/S Gilbertson. The wireless
operator Sgt Callaghan, moved towards the
front of the plane when it became apparent
that the plane would crash or make an
crash-landing. He found Sgt. Byrne on the
floor of the cockpit, hit by the guns of the
German night fighter. Nose gunner Sgt.
Rutherford already came out of the turret
and seemed able to leave the plane by
himself. F/S Gilbertson was still
frantically working to keep the plane
airborne. Shortly after, however, the plane
crashed into the IJsselmeer near Schellingwoude.
Sgt's Rutherford and Callaghan somehow
drifted out of the wreckage and drifted on
the sea for two hours before being rescued
by a German rescue boat.
Sgt. Alan
Rutherford is helped off the rescue boat by
Germans.
Both Sgt.
Byrne and F/S John Gilbertson were recovered
from the wreck when it was salvaged by the
Germans the next day. F/S was found in his
seat. Sgt. Byrne was lying next to him. They
were buried in Amsterdam. The body of
the tail gunner, Sgt William Titcomb, from
London, was recovered later and some
distance away. He is buried at Harderwijk.
A series of
pictures were taken by the Germans who
participated in the Salvage. Some of them
are not fitting to be posted here.
The two
survivors were taken to the Queen Wilhelmina
hospital in Amsterdam were they were well
treated by the Germans. After having
recovered sufficiently from their wounds
they were moved to POW camps in Germany.
A total of 33 planes were shot
down. Six of these were from 75 Sqn.
F/S
Gilbertson is
buried at the Nieuwe Oosterbegraafplaats in
Amsterdam Plot 69. Row E. Grave 17
