Strana 18
and knew nothing further until I found myself
conscious and falling through space. As I had
been flying with my parachute on for the whole
of the astrodome duties pulled the ripcord and
it opened at somewhere between two and four
thousand feet. While coming down I noticed
a fire on the deck which later proved to be our
aircraft. I believe the position of the crash was
about ten miles from the northern tip of the
lake Balaton and I know there was a three or
four line railway connecting two towns about
100 yards west of my position. I think I must
have been blown out of the aircraft by the
explosion of the photoflash or possibly the port
fuel tanks. As I found my telephone cable and
plug burnt into my left flying boot on landing
and proving I was not on the inter-comm with
the crew I don´t know if any of the rest of the
crew up the front had been killed when we were
hit but knowing from past conversations that
I was the only one who used to fir my parachute
over the defended areas I presume that all
the crew would find it impossible to leave the
aircraft. As there was a huge explosion about
30 seconds after I landed which I believe to
have been the bomb load I presume them to
have been killed. I received no news of them
later, even after visiting the casualty section
of Air Min. An enemy motor vehicle visited
the wreckage late the following afternoon
but as I kept myself hidden in the wheat field
I don´t know if they found any bodies. They
remained about an hour or more there before
I heard the vehicle driven away. I also heard
civilian women talking and laughing amidst the
noise of tearing up cloth which I believe was
parachute silk.”
Jeacocke was captured on June 30, 1944 and
spent several days in solitary confinement in
a Budapest prison before being transferred to
the Stalag Luft VII prison camp in Germany.
As already indicated, the remaining four
airmen from the crew perished. Pilot F/O
Thomas Bernard McAneney (RCAF), navigator
F/Sgt. Frederick Stanley Sparrow, bombaimer
F/Sgt. Thomas Bell and gunner Sgt. Edwin
Charles Hum were exhumed at the cemetery
in Tordas and were transferred to the military
cemetery in Budapest (common grave II. C.
5-8). The wreckage of their Wellington was
found 4 miles (6.5 km) east of Tordas near
Erdőmajorpuszta in Hungary. The locals took
everything that was of any use. The starboard
engine Hercules S.S.22689 was found in
a landfill in Budapest and the identity of the
wreckage was determined accordingly.
The second lost machine was the Wellington
Mk.X LP249 „Z“, which was operated by the
crew of pilot P/O Robert Edward Seymour
Shearer (RAAF), navigator F/Sgt. JW Chaplin,
bombaimer W/O2 NTS Reed (RCAF), radio
operator Sgt. J Jackson and gunner F/Sgt.
Terence Desmod Murray (RAAF). After the
start at 20:47 they headed for their target.
During the flight over Hungary, they fell
victim to German night fighters. Deadly shot
helpless bomber crashed near the village
of Dunaharaszti in Hungary, burying all five
airmen in its wreckage. After being lifted from
the wreck, their remains were transported to
the military cemetery in Budapest.
Let us add the list of twelve aircraft which
took off for the 150th Squadron: LN797 „E“,
MF284 „Y“, LP505, LP503, LP207 „J“, LP310,
LP148 „P“, LP239 „Q“, JA191, LN756 „T“ , LP203
and LP183 „O“.
Of the eight 614th Squadron aircraft that
took off to illuminate the target the Shell
refinery in Budapest on the night of June 25-26,
1944, two (the crews of W/O TE Scotland and
F/S JE O´Brien) had to prematurely turn back.
The paradox is that the ORB (Operation Record
F/O Thomas Bernard McAneney, 24, pilot and Deputy
Flight Commander, did not return from action on the
night of June 25-26, 1944. Together with him in Wellington
Mk.X LN811 „L“ died navigator F/Sgt. Frederick Stanley
Sparrow, bomb aimer F/Sgt. Thomas Bell and gunner Sgt.
Edwin Charles Hum. McAneney received pilot wings on
April 9, 1942 in Brantford and moved overseas a month
later. In November 1942, he was seriously injured during
an emergency landing on the coast of England.
Photograph of the original cross on McAneney‘s grave in the Budapest cemetery.
The last entry in McAnneney‘s flight log is written by an official. In the morning, they completed a training flight
with the crew with bombing training, and in the evening they took off on their last mission to Budapest.
HISTORY
INFO Eduard18
October 2024