Gelsenkirchen

Date

5 March 1945

Target

Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Force dispatched

171 aircraft

Aircraft lost

1

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

157 airmen in this archive died on 5 March 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.

• Pilot Officer Robert William Abrams (20)
• Flying Officer Reginald George David Adlam (23)
• Pilot Officer Mark Sylvester Harold Anderson (23)
• Flying Officer Walter Ross Ashdown (31)
• Pilot Officer John Melford Atchison
• Flying Officer John Leslie Atkinson (32)
• Flight Sergeant Ross Frederick Barnett (22)
• Flight Lieutenant Donald James Bassett (26)
• Pilot Officer Ralph Oscar Battler (20)
• Flying Officer Ivan Sydney Baudinette (23)
• Flying Officer Herbert John Beaton
• Pilot Officer Joseph Emile Roland Beaudry (21)
• Flight Lieutenant Vanegmond Robert Bell (26)
• Pilot Officer Richard Alan Biggerstaff (18)
• Flight Lieutenant Lindsay Stuart Black (30)
• Flying Officer Wilbert Alexander Brydon (28)
• Flight Sergeant Andrew Glen Caldwell (20)
• Flying Officer Thomas Marnoch Campbell (21)
• Flying Officer Alfred Valentine Cash
• Flying Officer Ronald Edward Oscar Charron (22)
• Flying Officer Earl William Clark
• Flight Sergeant Trevor Turner Clarke (20)
• Flight Lieutenant John George Clothier (25)
• Warrant Officer Class II Arthur George Cole (29)

See all 157 who died on 5 March →

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