Harry Dawson's Story.
Early LifeHarry was born in 1921 to parents Harry Langdon and Beatrice Rowe of Wistaston. He attended Crewe Secondary School from 1931 to 1936.
Training
After basic training Harry joined the crew led by Sergeant pilot Hugh Gonce at 81 OTU at Whitchurch Heath where they learned night bombing skills flying Whitley aircraft. They then went to 1656 HCU at Lindholme for instruction on flying Lancaster bombers. Harry was assigned as a Wireless Operator Air Gunner wth primary duty to operate the radio with secondary duty as a reserve air gunner
1656 HCU Roster
156 Squadron
Gonce’s crew including Harry joined 156 Squadron Pathfinder Force flying Lancaster bombers based at Warboys on 26 February 1943 but didn’t start operational flying until 2nd April 1943. They flew on three missions before being lost on their 4th mission.
Lancaster bomber
2nd April 1943 St Nazaire
Operation Record for St Nazaire mission. Note that the gunner claimed to have hit an enemy aircraft
8th April 1943 Duisberg
Operation Record for Duisberg mission
14th April 1943 Stuttgart.
Operation Report for Stuttgart mission
16th April 1943 the Skoda factory at Pilsen Czechoslovakia
The mission
527 4 engined bombers were tasked with the bombing of the Skoda armaments factory at Pilsen 156 Squadron was tasked with marking the target with target indicators ( TI’s)to provide aiming points for the main bomber force. However the Master Bomber was unhappy with the location of the TI’s and instructed the main force to identify the target visually. Most of the bombers misidentified the target ( and bombed an asylum 7km away by mistake. As it happened the asylum was occupied by German troops up to 200 of whom were killed in the attack. The Skoda factory was untouched in the attack possibly because it was heavily camouflaged.
Skoda factory with camouflage
The loss of Lancaster W4930
Gonce’s crew including Harry Rowe were lost when their aircraft W4930 was shot down by a German night fighter at Aigny in France as they were returning from the mission.
Eyewitness reports of the loss of W4930 are available on a French website. See link below.
https://amrvraux.com/crash-du-bombardier-lavro-lancaster-w-4930/
The eyewitness describes how the Lancaster was heavily damaged and being pursued by a nightfighter flown by Gerhard Friedrich of the NJG4 squadron based at Dizier. As it was trying to escape the fighter it hit a power line and crashed into the bank of a river near Aigny. 6 of the crew where found dead in or near the crashed aircraft but one crew member Dean was found several km away 15 days later which suggests that he might have tried to bale out as the plane was coming down or was ejected from the plane during its descent.
Gerhard Friedrich
ME 110 Nightfighter of NJG4
The Funeral.
Gerhard Friedrich brought a wreath to the funeral and as he entered the church he said to the French people gathered there “ War is disgusting. Them today them us tomorrow”. His prediction was correct as he was killed after colliding with a Lancaster bomber in 1945. The crew was buried with full military honours and a memorial plaque was set up at the church in Aigny.The 6 crew members found with the plane were buried at Chalons-En-Champagne East Communal Cemetery, France and Dean was buried at Conde-Sur-Marne Communal Cemetery, France.
Commemorative plaque at Aigny church
The final casualty of this incident was the man who witnessed the funeral service Bernard Pauzié who had picked up some tracer bullets from the crash site and blew his finger off when trying to make fireworks out of them