ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 139968
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| Date: | Saturday 14 April 1945 |
| Time: | 01:30 |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito NF Mk 30 |
| Owner/operator: | 85 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | NT494 |
| MSN: | VY-N |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Armstorf, 26 kilometres west of Stade -
 Germany
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Swannington, Norfolk |
Mosquito NT494/N: Took off at 21:53 hrs for Night patrol over Kiel. 13/04/1945
Missing from patrol over Germany presumed ditched in North Sea 14/04/1945
During the sortie, the crew were heard several times on R/T, the first call to Brussels being monitored at midnight by a 157 Sqn crew patrolling off Heligoland. Thirty minutes later, F/L J.A.V. Grisewood, who was flying south of Kiel, heard F/Lt Thomas asking RAF Woodbridge for assistance. Then, at 01:23 hrs, F/Lt Vaughan radioed for a fix, which positioned his aircraft 180 miles off the east coast, with a QDM of 245 degrees. Immediately, he heard a voice, which he recognised as F/Lt Thomas saying ""Get some in Vaughan"". It is then believed a German night-fighter struck, though there are indications that earlier, while over Denmark, F/Lt Thomas had been fired at by a Lancaster and had sustained some damage. " After being were attacked by a night fighter, they both baled out, Thomas landing just inland from the Dutch coast and Hamilton was have fallen into the sea, and was lost.
Crew:
F/Lt (126708) Hugh Brian THOMAS DFC (pilot) - baled out /injured POW (NCO:1293086 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 18 August, 1942)
F/O (174685) Charles Blackley HAMILTON DFC (nav.) RAFVR - baled out /killed (NCO:1002686 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 30 May, 1944)
Mosquizo NT494/N was engaged in a high-level escort of the bomber stream in the target area at Kiel, with a patrol line running from Kiel to Bad Segeberg further south.
Mosquito fly too close to one of the Lancasters in the area around Kiel and they received gunfire from the friendly aircraft and was damaged. It is not exactly known where or when this incident occurred, but is presumed to have been in the area between Bordesholm-Hohenwestedt-Pellworm and sometime between 23.35-23.53 hrs. At midnight, F/L Thomas radioed an emergency airfield in Brussels, stating that he was in distress, but the call went unanswered. Around 30 minutes later F/L Thomas radioed Woodbridge airfield in the United Kingdom, but once again received no reply.
F/L Kenneth Vaughan and his navigator F/Sgt Robert McKinnon in another 85 Sqdn Mosquito were flying in the general Neumünster area, nearing the end of an uneventful patrol, when a contact was picked up on AI radar at a range of 5 miles. The crew had earlier crossed the German coast near Westerhever and proceeded to the Hohenwestedt area, south-west of Kiel, where they commenced their patrol as the bombers exited the target area.
F/L Vaughan, guided by F/Sgt McKinnon operating the Mark X radar, closed in on the contact, which was flying on a southerly course and losing height at a low airspeed, while continually weaving. A blue light was visible on the contact from astern as they closed in, and occasionally the bright exhausts could be seen. The Mosquito crew had difficulty getting behind their contact because of the evasive action it was taking, but they did manage to observe that their target as a twin-engined aircraft. On three occasions they closed to a range of 1,000 feet behind their target, but each time their adversary peeled away. With the target identified as an "He219", F/L Vaughan managed to fire a burst of cannon fire from a range of 900 feet, just as the target began to peel off again, but this produced no strikes. He then manoeuvred the Mosquito directly astern of his adversary. F/L Vaughan fired another burst, which caused a large explosion and strikes on his starboard side. I gave him another burst for luck and another explosion appeared on the port side at 00:31 hrs in the approximate position 5350N 1000E. F/Lt Vaughan initially attacked the "He219" at a height of 10,000 feet and it was estimated to have crashed in an area some 31 kilometres due north of Hamburg.
At some point after midnight, the damaged and burning Mosquito NT494/N was attacked by a 'German night fighter' that, according to F/Lt Thomas, had been attracted by the fire that illuminated the Mosquito. F/L Thomas managed to bale out of the stricken aircraft, but F/O Hamilton was killed when the Mosquito crashed near Armstorf, 26 kilometres west of Stade.
Sources:
1. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txtt
2. ORB 85 Sqdn RAF
3. CWGC database
4. POW list
5. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 25 January 1944 | HK??? | 85 Sqn RAF | 0 | RAF stn West Malling, Kent, England |  |
non |
| 28 January 1944 | HK122 | 85 Sqn RAF | 2 | English Channel near Dungeness, Kent. England. | |
w/o |
| 28 December 1944 | MV??? | 85 Sqn RAF | 0 | RAF stn Manston, Kent, England | |
min |
| 11 February 1945 | MV??? | 85 Sqn RAF | 0 | RAF stn Swannington, 9.5 miles NW of Norwich, Norfolk, England | |
non |
| 18 March 1945 | NT254 | 85 Sqn RAF | 2 | North Sea near English east coast. | |
w/o |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 20-Nov-2011 11:31 | Nepa | Added |
| 20-Apr-2014 11:08 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 01-Jun-2014 18:44 | Nepa | Updated [Narrative] |
| 24-Jun-2014 16:34 | Nepa | Updated [Narrative] |
| 09-Sep-2015 19:16 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
| 19-Oct-2015 19:18 | Rata | Updated [Cn, Narrative] |
| 18-Jan-2019 19:22 | Nepa | Updated [Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative, Operator] |
| 10-Jan-2022 12:12 | Nepa | Updated [Source, Narrative, Operator] |
| 13-Apr-2022 08:04 | Rob Davis | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 17-Jun-2022 20:49 | Nepa | Updated [Source, Narrative, Operator] |
| 04-Aug-2022 18:01 | Rob Davis | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 13-Jul-2023 21:03 | Nepa | Updated [[Source, Narrative]] |
| 13-Apr-2024 06:39 | Rob Davis | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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