Douglas James Joseph Timms
Sergeant · 546494 · United Kingdom
- Died
- 2 January 1945, aged 26
- Fate
- Killed in action
Biography
Douglas James Joseph Timms (1919–1945) was a flight engineer with No. 100 Squadron, the son of George and Hilda Alberta Timms of Battersea in London. On the night of 2/3 January 1945 he flew in Lancaster III PB518 “Pistol Packin’ Mama”, which took off from RAF Grimsby to attack Nuremberg. The bomber was shot down by a German night-fighter and crashed in woodland near Schlierbach, south-east of Stuttgart. Timms was one of four of the seven-man crew killed; the pilot, navigator and bomb aimer baled out and were taken prisoner. Aged 26, he was first buried near the crash site and after the war reinterred in Durnbach War Cemetery. His pilot, Flying Officer Paul Bunn, later wrote to Timms’s mother to reassure her that none of the crew had suffered.
Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Aircrew Remembered — 100 Squadron Lancaster III PB518 HW-P, F/O Bunn, International Bomber Command Centre Losses Database — Timms D (loss 123450) and RAFCommands — Sergeant D J J Timms (546494), RAF war dead record 45512. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.
Burial / commemoration
- Cemetery
- Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany
Operations on this date. 2 raids in this archive were flown on the night of 2 January 1945: Dortmund–ems Canal · Nuremberg. (Cross-reference by date — not in itself confirmation this airman flew it.)
Timeline
-
2 January 1945
Flew Operation
Flight engineer, PB518 HW-P — Failed to return -
2 January 1945
Died
aged 26
Crew & operations
Flew as Flight engineer with No. 100 Squadron.
- Operation (2 January 1945) — aircraft PB518 HW-P (Avro Lancaster) — Failed to return
Crew: R E Marsh (Bomb aimer) · William Cook Muir (Mid-upper gunner) · L J Holford (Navigator) · P M Bunn (Pilot) · Ronald Poulsom (Rear gunner) · Jack Ernest Benton (Wireless operator)
Service
- Sergeant, No. 100 Squadron based at RAF Grimsby (Waltham)
Source: CWGC casualty record: TIMMS, DOUGLAS JAMES JOSEPH → · Commonwealth War Graves Commission