Ralph Owen Chester

Halifax II JD418 took off 2028 31 Aug 1943 from Elvington. Cause of loss and crash-site not established.

Six fatalities: Chester + EW Dredge, HJ McAdam, FD Rex, OK Sutherland, SR Tattershall.

L Marsden and JJ Knight survived to become POWs.

Those who died rest in the 1939-1945 War Cemetery in Berlin.

622 aircraft - 33 Lancasters, 176 Halifaxes, 106 Stirlings 9 Mosquitoes attacked Berlin on this raid. 7.6% of the attacking force was lost. Approximately two thirds of the losses were shot down by German fighters operating over or near Berlin. The use of fighter flares dropped by German aircraft to mark the bomber routes into and away from the target was noted for the first time in Bomber Command records.

The raid was not successful. There was some cloud in the target area; this together with difficulties with H2S equipment and probably the ferocity of the German defences combined to confuse Pathfinders and cause most bombing to extend 30 miles back from the target area. 85 houses were destroyed but damage to industrial buildings was slight although the headquarters of Berlin’s inland canal and harbour system, the state police hospital and some market halls were hit. 66 civilians and 2 soldiers were killed, 109 people injured and 2,784 bombed out.

After this raid, Berlin Gauleiter Joseph Goebbels ordered the evacuation from the city of all children and all adults not engaged in war work to country areas or towns in Eastern Germany where air raids were not expected. (Source: Middlebrook and Everitt, Bomber Command War Diaries, p.p. 427-428)

Unknown