Eighty-two years ago, on the night of 24/25 June 1944, Flight Sergeant Roy Oswald and his crew of No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron took off from RAF Dunholme Lodge aboard Lancaster ME628. Their target was a V1 flying bomb launch site at Pommeréval in northern France. It would be their eleventh operation together – and their last.
Oswald's crew had already experienced remarkable good fortune during their short operational career. Only weeks earlier, they had survived the spectacular crash of their Lancaster while diverting to RAF Westcott after an aborted raid. Their aircraft careered off the runway and burst into flames, yet every member of the crew escaped unharmed. Tragically, half an hour later, the aircraft's bomb load exploded, killing the duty flying control officer who had gone to inspect the wreckage.
After successfully bombing the launch site at Pommeréval, Oswald’s Lancaster turned for home. Then, shortly after midnight, disaster struck. Attacked from below by a Junkers Ju 88 equipped with the deadly Schräge Musik upward-firing cannon, the Lancaster was mortally wounded. The first attack set the starboard fuel tanks ablaze. Realising the aircraft could not be saved, Roy Oswald gave the order to bale out. Three members of the crew managed to escape.
(A Ju 88 over Pommeréval on the night of 24/25 June 1944, taken from a 49 Squadron Lancaster.)
Oswald stayed at the controls for as long as possible, sacrificing his own chance of survival to give his crew every opportunity to get clear. By the time he attempted to leave, the aircraft was too low. He went down with his Lancaster, together with Arthur Richardson, Les Hutchinson and Bobby Sargent. Oswald's body was never recovered and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
Flight engineer Jim Hurley, having successful escaped the burning Lancaster, initially contacted the French Resistance but was later captured and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 7. Navigator Archie Shoebottom (pictured above) and bomb aimer Bill White were hidden by members of the French Resistance around Saint-Saëns. Living under false identities, they spent over two months concealed in occupied France, often within sight of German troops. They listened secretly to BBC broadcasts as the Allied armies advanced, before finally being liberated by Canadian forces on 31 August 1944.
As we remember the events of 24/25 June, we also remember the courage of the young men who flew these dangerous missions and the equally brave civilians of occupied France who risked everything to shelter Allied airmen.
Their story is one of sacrifice, survival and quiet heroism—and a reminder that behind every Bomber Command loss lay seven individual lives, each with its own remarkable story.
This blog is adapted from the chapter Not So Lucky by Dr Steve Bond, which features in V-Weapons Bomber Command Failed to Return. Published by Fighting High, tells the stories of Bomber Command crews lost while attacking Germany's V-weapon sites during the Second World War.