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26/27 November, 1943; BERLIN:
On the previous trips Berlin had always been cloud covered, but
on this occasion, as 440 Lancasters flew over the target the
visibility was clear. Flak defences over Berlin, and fighters
on the return leg accounted for 28 bombers and their crews.
As the bombers returned home, fog covered much of eastern England
with many squadrons being diverted. As midnight approached, conditions
at Fiskerton were quite severe. Radiation fog was 1;200ft deep
and visibility down to 450yds. At 00.15hrs it was decided to
light FIDO for 49 Squadron's returning crews. This was the first
instance during the war, that FIDO was used operationally to
bring down one complete squadron of bombers (Graveley had used
its system the previous week to land four Halifaxes).
At 01.02hrs, Sgt Roy Richardson RAAF (JB235) flying 'Bandlaw
C-Charlie' entered the 'funnel'. Next in the stack behind C-Charlie
was 'Bandlaw A-Able' flown by fellow Australian, F/Sgt Clive
Roantree (JB466).
The following extract is from Clive's own book,"To Fly Lancasters",
and is reproduced here with his kind permission, Clive writes:
"We positioned ourselves to land immediately after C-Charlie.
He would turn into the funnel, whilst we were on the down-wind
leg and should be clear of the runway as we touched down. The
two parallel bars of fire, one on either side of the runway could
be clearly seen with bars of flame at each end to stop the fog
rolling into the cleared area. On our practice (November 3rd),
we had found that after we turned into the funnel at 600 feet
and lined up with the runway, as we approached, the fire on the
cross bar reflected on the perspex windshield so that it was
impossible for the pilot to see out. To offset the problem my
flight engineer called height and airspeed as soon as we lined
up on the runway at 600ft. For the inexperienced pilot it could
be a frightening experience as it is not until the aircraft crossed
the bar of flame at less than 100 feet that it was possible to
see clearly and then make a visual landing. Subsequently a shield
was placed in front of the bar of flame to prevent windscreen
reflection. On this night, with wheels down, pitch in fully fine
with 20 degrees of flap, we were at the end of the down-wind
leg ready to make our turn across wind before entering the funnel,
when there was a dull flash on the ground right at the beginning
of the funnel. I knew that an aircraft had crashed and to my
horror realised that it must be Richardson in C-Charlie. I continued
the landing procedure turning across wind and there, right below
us was an aircraft on fire! Giving the crew the order that we
were going to overshoot, I called flying control, 'Hello Passout,
Bandlaw Able over shooting - an aircraft has crashed and is on
fire in the funnel - I say again an aircraft has crashed and
is on fire in the funnel'.
There was a short pause before we were called again from flying
control to repeat the message. Because of the flames from FIDO
and the position of the control tower, they could not see the
burning aircraft. After completing our overshoot procedure we
continued around the circuit and this time as we were completing
the downwind leg, there was a flash of flame on the ground as
C-Charlie’s fuel tanks exploded. Nerves and senses were
now tuned to the dangers as we carefully made our approach in
copy book style. There was a slight lift as we crossed the heat
rising from the bar at the beginning of the runway and A-Able
set down smoothly in a three-point-landing. It was bad enough
when crews were missing over enemy territory, but there was an
awful accentuation of loss when a crew had completed its mission
and disaster struck so close to home and safety."
Tragically, the Lancaster burning in the funnel was that of the
Richardson crew, returning from their first operation.
Lancaster JB235 (EA-C)
Sgt R.J. Richardson RAAF
Pilot (Killed)
Sgt H.G.
Boswell F/E (Killed)
Sgt H. Carr NAV/B (Killed)
Sgt L.H. Cartwright W/AG (Killed)
Sgt M.O. Mahony
RAAF A/G (Injured)
P/O H. Lowe
(USA)RCAF B/A (Killed)
Sgt
Winterborn A/G (Injured)
Crew on their 1st operation
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