THE STORY OF                                                             
 AVRO LANCASTER LM658 

"just one of many"

LANCASTER LM658

On the evening of Saturday August 12th 1944 an Avro Lancaster (serial number LM658) took off from its base at RAF Waltham near Grimsby, Lincolnshire in Eastern England bearing the squadron code HW-W of RAF 100 Squadron, Bomber Command (1 group) as part of an airborne offensive of 379 heavy bombers heading for heart of the Nazi Reich. However, as dawn broke on Sunday morning only six of the seven 100 Squadron Lancs that took off the previous evening were to return to Waltham, LM658 and her crew were posted as missing.

INTRODUCTION

About this website

This is the story of the crew of just one Lancaster bomber, the focal point being the remarkable fate of the navigator, F/O Hood whose story along with that of his comrades gives us some insight into the lives of the many thousands of allied aircrew who fought in the skies during the European air war. The primary purpose of this website is to present this particular crew as an example, then to hold them up as a symbolic tribute to all who flew with Bomber Command during WWII whatever their country of origin, in particular to the 55,770 who took off from the airfields of Eastern England to do what they had to do, never to return.

Those of us who were born later inherited a hard won freedom from the generation of our fathers/grandfathers who were called upon to fight a total war and inevitably, a climate of such freedom of speech gives rise to those voices who (as is their right) will question the actions and their consequences of those who flew into battle particularly with Bomber Command. Those of us involved in the production of this site are only too aware of the political/ historical origins and indeed the consequences of the aerial offensive on mainland Europe conducted from our shores during the Second World War, we do not seek to analyse or question the strategies or decisions of those in government/high command at the time or glorify the agonies and losses of those on the receiving end of Sir Arthur Harris's "Whirlwind." (The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw, and half a hundred other places, they put their rather naive theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind. - Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Travers Harris, 1st Baronet GCB OBE AFC RAF)

We only seek to honour the memory of those who did their duty and offered their lives in the name of freedom.

About the Author

At the time of writing this website at the close of 2008 I am racing comfortably towards my mid-forties, I have spent all of my working life in the road haulage industry, both hands on as a driver and (briefly) driving a desk, to me it has never been just a job but a career and a way of life. I have been with my current employer for over eight years now, we are a small but long established, private company based in West Lancashire involved in specialised UK and International movements for our customer located near to the City of Preston, Lancashire with regular runs to Holland, Germany, France and Belgium, this is relevant because it was my work that initially gave me access to the places that inspired me to pursue this story. I possess no formal journalistic qualifications and harbour no pretensions in that direction, I write and correspond on various subjects mainly for pleasure, about things that concern and interest me as no more than a keen amateur.

I did come close to serving in Her Majesty's Air force but it was not to be! Nevertheless I have always held a deep fascination and awe for the men who fought in the air, especially during the conflict of 1939 to1945, though for many years my interest in such matters had remained I admit, rather passive, but that was all to change as good old-fashioned, boyish hero-worship suddenly began to evolve into a more grown-up commitment to play a part however small in ensuring that the men who fought and died this way would always be remembered for what they were called to do. During the course of this research I was delighted to be recommended to the committee by Greg Harrison, (association historian and webmaster) for an associate membership of the 100 Squadron Association. The recommendation was accepted, an honour rarely bestowed on anyone who has never served or is not directly related to a current serving or former member of the squadron.

Alan J Barrow.

Where it all began

It was a warm Sunday afternoon back in August 2001 and another weekend spent working away from home, it was my day off and I was walking on the outskirts of the village of Zenderen, near our base at Almelo in the province of Overijssel, Eastern Netherlands. Here there is a path leading through woodland known locally as De Bloedveld. Should you ever walk this way you will come across an impressive bronze memorial statue in a clearing. Nearby are several white tablets laid in memory of local Dutch patriots who lost their lives resisting the Nazi occupation, one of these tablets however, bore the name and date of birth of a Royal Air Force officer. My curiosity was aroused, for here in pleasant peace of Dutch woodland was a tribute to a fellow countryman who had passed this way before me in very different circumstances.

Flying Officer Gerald Hood. I never knew him, his life ended prematurely two decades before mine began and over fifty-five years before I ever set foot in Almelo. From the moment I first wandered into that clearing a quest began for on that day I was moved to make it my business to get to know all about F/O Gerald Hood and why his life ended where I stood. I felt a sense of duty to bring home the story of this fellow countryman who, many years ago set out from an airfield in eastern England to meet his fate. After some initial research the sense of duty became even more acute when it became apparent that his story had been forgotten in his country of birth, if indeed it had ever been told at all! On that warm August afternoon when I first discovered the memorial site in that often quoted "corner of a foreign field that will be forever England" (Rupert Brooke) I felt it was my duty to see that the crew of LM 658 were, figuratively speaking, "brought home." I am sure you will agree it is a story that should be told! but his story does have many unique qualities. After surviving being shot out of the sky and evading capture for so long, with liberation and the end of hostilities in sight, he finally became the victim of a cold-blooded, pre-meditated murder at the age of just twenty-three.

Acknowledgements

At the close of 2001 all I had to work with was a couple of photographs of the memorial site. After a bit of basic internet detective work and a letter to the 100 Sqdn Association, I was put in touch with Mr Greg Harrison of Cardiff, an expert researcher on the subject of Bomber Command specialising in 100 Squadron, who had also started work the Gerald Hood story. Not forgetting my employers R Barker and sons for enabling me to conduct my research and undertake various visits to crash and burial sites during what was effectively their time. I have had invaluable help and support from numerous other sources including Mr Laurence Pilfold, the nephew of Flt/Sgt Laurence Watts, Mr Alan Paston-Williams, son of Flt/Lt Harold (Bill) Paston -Williams and Mr Ian Reid, author of the book "To Fly Over Waltham." During 2007 associates of The Royal Russell School in Croydon, Mr Brian Angel and the late Mr Derek Card (who sadly passed away at the end of 2007) took the investigation to areas and levels that were way beyond my own resources. Thanks also to Theo Boiten and John Manrho and their excellent and extensive work on Luftwaffe night fighter claims. Further factual information was also obtained and/or crosschecked from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and transcripts of the UN War Crimes Commission trials. Finally, to the local people of Almelo and the surrounding area who have kept the story very much alive...and always will!

The obvious next step was to give the whole story a WWW presence, this has been made possible by Mr Duncan Reid, proprietor of Sefton Computer Repairs (Southport & Crosby/Waterloo) who, as a result of his own enthusiasm for aviation has given his professional time, technical know-how and resources in website design, construction and hosting in exchange for an up-front fee of tea and bacon sandwiches! What can only be described as a great, Europe-wide team effort put together the story of the crew of LM 658 to be preserved and told for all time.

Between us…we brought them home

For Derek, an avid researcher and a true gentleman