Harold Raymond McClelland DFC RAAF and crew – 576 Squadron – 1944/45 – 421610
Harold McCelland was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 5 April 1923 and attended Goulburn Public School. High School Technical College, NSW, Australia. His family must have emigrated when he was quite young. Prior occupation - Clerk for the NSWG Railways. He enlisted on the 28 February 1942 and trained at Lindfield, Temora, Australia and Brandon Canada. Trained at 25 ITS – 63 and 78 AFU. Left Australia 6 October 1942 and left Canada 7 April 1943. Arrived in UK 17 April 1943.
Aircraft flown – Tiger Moth, Cessna Crane 200 hours, Avro Anson II, Miles Master I and II, Airspeed Oxford, Vickers Wellington, Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster I and III
The McCelland crew were posted to 576 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds September 1944 and consisted of :-
F/O HR McClelland RAAF
Sgt A Rhodes
F/S J A Kennedy
F/O W R Courtis RAAF
F/S N G McGill
F/S M Chapman
F/S J P Coe
F/O W R Courtis, who had flown 20 ops with the McCelland crew and had completed his second tour, was replaced by W/O J B Lamprell from the 16 December 1944. His first tour was with 42 Squadron RAAF in the Far East as a navigator on Lockheed Hudsons. See below.
Lamprell had flown one op as shown below
04/12/1944 - Karlsruhe - Point of Aim - NF975 - F/O N Layden
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The McCelland tour was as follows :-
27/09/1944 - Calais - Army support - NF976 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
28/09/1944 - Calais - Army support - NF976 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF - Ab - Raid aborted by Master Bomber due to worsening cloud conditions.
03/10/1944 - West Kapelle - Army support - PD312 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
05/10/1944 - Saarbrucken - Army support - NG183 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
11/10/1944 - Fort Frederik Henrik - Army support - PD271 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
14/10/1944 - Duisburg - Operation Hurricane - PD363 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
14/10/1944 - Duisburg - Operation Hurricane - PD363 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
19/10/1944 - Stuttgart - Point of Aim - LM651 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
22/10/1944 - Essen - Point of Aim - ME801 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
25/10/1944 - Essen - Point of Aim - PA173 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
27/10/1944 - Cologne - Point of Aim - PD309 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
30/10/1944 - Cologne - Point of Aim - PD312 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
02/11/1944 - Dusseldorf - Point of Aim - PD309 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
06/11/1944 - Gelsenkirchen - Oil - PD309 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
09/11/1944 - Wanne Eikel - Oil - PD312 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
11/11/1944 - Dortmund - Oil - LM651 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
21/11/1944 - Aschaffenburg - Railway yards - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
27/11/1944 - Freiburg - Army support - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
29/11/1944 - Dortmund - Point of Aim - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
04/12/1944 - Karlsruhe - Point of Aim - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
06/12/1944 - Leuna - Oil - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
17/12/1944 - Ulm - Point of Aim - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
22/12/1944 - Koblenz - Railway yards - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF - Bad weather at Base. Landed at Charterhall
28/12/1944 - Bonn - Railway yards - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF -
31/12/1944 - Osterfeld - Railway yards - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF -
14/01/1945 - Leuna - Oil - SW276 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF - 3 SE NF sighted .Evasive action.
28/01/1945 - Stuttgart/ Zuffenhausen - Aero engine factory - LM294 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
01/02/1945 - Ludswigshafen - Point of Aim - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
07/02/1945 - Kleve - Army support - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
08/02/1945 - Politz - Oil - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
13/02/1945 - Dresden - Operation Thunderclap - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
20/02/1945 - Dortmund - Point of Aim - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
21/02/1945 - Duisburg - Point of Aim - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
02/03/1945 - Cologne - Army support - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
05/03/1945 - Chemnitz - Operation Thunderclap - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF
08/03/1945 - Kassel - Point of Aim - PB753 - F/O HR McClelland RAAF - Landed at Jouvincourt on return with engine trouble.
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F/O H R McCelland RAAF was awared a DFC gazetted 20/07/1945
F/O W R Courtis RAAF was awarded a DFC gazetted 23/03/45
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Wilbur Richard Courtis RAAF
The Battle of Savo Island Controversy
Courtis came from Brighton Melbourne and joined the RAAF 26 April 1941. before he enlisted he was an accounts clerk for the Victorian Railways. He trained at Somers, Mt Gambier, Port Pirie and Nhill and in March 1942 he was posted to 25 Squadron at Perth flying Wirraways on coastal patrols. At the end of March he escorted the arrival of the Queen Mary with her first consignment of American soldiers. In j
June he was posted to Bairnsdale to crew up with Sgt William John Stutt whose father was the Kings First aerial messenger and a test pilot at Brooklands. He was one of the pioneers of Australian aviation.
In July 1942 the Stutt crew were posted to 32 Squadron based at Horn Island near Thursday Island and then sent with their Flight to port Moresby and from there to Milne Bay to cover the North Solomons and do reconnaissance work in preparation for the landings at Guadalcanal. They were later joined by 75 and 76 Squadrons with their Kittyhawks. The airfield at Milne Bay was very basic with little in the way of facilities.
32 Squadron Lockheed Hudsons
On 8 August 1942, Stutt and his crew were flying an armed reconnaissance mission over Bougainville when they broke radio silence to report sighting an advancing Japanese fleet. They reported the location, direction and number of enemy ships by radio and again verbally immediately they returned to base while being fired on by Japanese anti-aircraft gunners and being pursued by Japanese fighter aircraft.
The Americans, failed to act on these reports and consequently suffered one of their worst-ever naval defeats in the Battle of Savo Island.
U.S. Official Historian Rear Admiral Samuel Morison wrote in his 1949 account that the RAAF Hudson's crew failed to report the sighting until after they had landed and even had tea. This claim made international headlines and was repeated by many subsequent historians. It is a vile slur against brave men who did their duty and why Morison should print this allegation which had no basis in fact whatsoever is a complete mystery.
Later research has discredited this version of events and in 2014, the U.S. Navy's Naval History and Heritage Command acknowledged in a letter to the Hudson's radio operator Eric Geddes who had lobbied for decades to clear his crew mates' name, that Morison's criticisms were "unwarranted."
That is all very well but this Official History had been available for over 70 years and has no doubt been read by tens of thousands of scholars, historians and servicemen in that time. The damage has been done and is irreparable.
Shortly after this the Stutt crew sighted two Japanese submarines west of Bougainville and attacked but could not claim a hit. On the 26 August the Japanese landed at Milne Bay and the Shutt crew flew several bombing missions against the ground forces.
The Stutt crew L to R - Wilbur Courtis, Bill Stutt, John Reil, Eric Geddes
Courtis was posted on the 28 August having flown 90 operational hours in less than a month. His health suffered and he contracted malaria at this time.
During August 6 Squadron had taken over at Horn Island and when he came back he found out he had been transferred. He now crewed up with F/O H Shore and did mainly reconnaissance patrols until the 25 August when he was posted south and went to 66 Squadron at Bundaberg flying Ansons on convoy escort work and was then posted overseas to the UK where he arrived on the 28 January 1943
Coutis attended 2 (O) AFU Millom, 27 OTU Lichfield and Church Broughton and HCU at Blyton and LFS Hemswell. Presumably he crewed up with McClelland at 27 OTU and flew the operations as set out above
In October 1945, Stutt was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for his wartime services.
After the war Bill Stutt entered the world of thoroughbred breeding and sales and was extremely successful
Compiled by David Fell with photos from Australian War Memorial
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