Wesel

Date

18 February 1945

Target

Wesel, Germany

Force dispatched

160 aircraft

Sortie details (which aircraft from which squadron, which crew flew, the outcome) will populate this page once the TNA AIR 27 squadron-diary importer arrives.

The fallen

45 airmen in this archive died on 18 February 1945 or the day that followed. For a raid of this kind these are overwhelmingly the night's losses, though a death-date match is not by itself proof an individual flew this operation.

• Flight Sergeant John Ogilvy Allen (21)
• Flight Lieutenant Geoffrey Frank Rowe Apps (24)
• Corporal James Aylwin (25)
• Warrant Officer James Frederick Morgan Bennett (27)
• Flight Lieutenant Donald Vincent Bidder (30)
• Flight Lieutenant Frank Binns (43)
• Warrant Officer Class II Francis Pierce Buck
• Flight Sergeant Collin Royal Bundara (26)
• Flight Lieutenant Harry Barron Cooper (23)
• Pilot Officer Frederick Allan Cresswell (24)
• Flying Officer Raoul Alberto Orozco Floripe (24)
• Warrant Officer Robert Douglas Gill (22)
• Pilot Officer Walter Robert Grant
• Flying Officer Gerard Jean Guay (24)
• Flight Lieutenant Francis William Hall (25)
• Flying Officer Charles Ernest Sleeman Hamlyn-lovis (31)
• Corporal Keith Hardham (20)
• Leading Aircraftman Roger Casement Healy (24)
• Flight Lieutenant Deryck Hogan (25)
• Flying Officer Kenneth George Hollaway (21)
• Flight Lieutenant James Cassels Howden (29)
• Flight Lieutenant Ralph Harvey Hunter (33)
• Flight Lieutenant Reed Tilton Hyde (33)
• Flight Lieutenant Earl Clifford Ireland (26)

See all 45 who died on 18 February →

Source: RAF Bomber Command Campaign Diary (60th-Anniversary website, via the Wayback Machine) →