F/O Edward G Moores and crew – 103 Squadron – RAF Elsham Wolds – 1944
Crashed to Return – 18/19th March 1944 – Avro Lancaster III – JB744 – Op Frankfurt
Edward Moores
The Moores crew were formed at 83 OTU Peplow, Salop on the 24 August 1943
Moores and his crew were posted to 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds from 1656 Heavy Conversion Unit at Lindholme on the 19th February 1944. This crew crashed in the UK returning early on their 3rd operation.
24-Feb-44 – Schweinfurt – Lancaster – JB744 – F/O EG Moores - Landed at Tangmere.
15-Mar-44 – Stuttgart – Lancaster – JB744 – F/O EG Moores - Landed at Wittering
18-Mar-44 – Frankfurt – Lancaster – JB744 F/O EG Moores – Early return - Crash landed on return. Both inner engines failed outbound. Aborted and crash landed, hitting trees and buildings near Hadleigh.
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F/O Edward G Moores RAFVR - Injured
Sgt H Mardon - Injured
F/S E S Moran RCAF ( pictured above )
Sgt Eric W Shreeve
Sgt R E Greenwood
Sgt H A Edwards
F/O R Wilkinson - Injured
Edward Moores did not fly with 103 Squadron again. Ted Moran certainly did and was shot down with Thomas Jones and crew in May 1944 and taken POW. Eric Shreeve joined the 576 Squadron crew of John R Stedman on the 9 May 1944 and completed his tour with them firstly with 576 Squadron and for a short time 1 Gp Special Duties Flight before it was disbanded
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18-Mar-44 - Frankfurt
103 Squadron detailed 18 aircraft for this attack on the German city of Frankfurt. 3 aircraft from the Squadron were acting as Pathfinder supporters on this raid and were due over the target at zero minus 5. Bombing was between 20000 ft and 23000 ft. Crews reported searchlights in the target area being many and active. There was no effective coning however. Flak was moderate but burst well below. Thin haze practically covered the target but the ground marking was well concentrated and it seemed that attack developed well. F/O Moores aborted due to engine trouble and crashed on return 10 miles west of Ipswich. The Pilot, Flight Engineer and rear gunner were injured. F/O Johnston had an engine fire half an hour before reaching the target. He however continued after jettisoning his 4000 lb Cookie and bombed with incendiaries. On return he landed at Manston. Note. There were reports that incendiaries were dropped as far as 80 miles from the target clearly marking the route.
For this attack on Frankfurt Bomber Command detailed a total of 846 aircraft - 620 Lancasters, 209 Halifaxes, 17 Mosquitos. The German fighter force was again split. One part was lured north by a large Heligoland mining operation but the second part waited in Germany and met the bomber stream just before the target was reached, although cloud made it difficult for these fighters to achieve much success. 22 aircraft - 12 Halifaxes, 10 Lancasters - were lost, 2.6 per cent of the force. The Pathfinders marked the target accurately and this led to heavy bombing of eastern, central and western districts of Frankfurt. The later phases of the bombing were scattered but this was almost inevitable with such a large force; new crews were usually allocated to the final waves.
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Lancaster – JB744
This machine was lost on its 4th operation. See below :-
20-Feb-44 – Stuttgart – Lancaster – JB744 – W/O JAH Nimmo RAAF
24-Feb-44 – Schweinfurt – Lancaster – JB744 – F/O EG Moores - Landed at Tangmere.
15-Mar-44 – Stuttgart – Lancaster – JB744 – F/O EG Moores - Landed at Wittering
18-Mar-44 – Frankfurt – Lancaster – JB744 – F/O EG Moores – Early return - Crash landed on return. Both inner engines failed outbound. Aborted and crash landed, hitting trees and buildings near Hadleigh.
Item compiled by David Fell. Moran photo courtesy of Leo Schotman. Moores photo was sent to me some years ago by one of my contacts whose name escapes me.
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