Steven K. Dixon 2021
Squadron: 103 Aircraft Name: Sherwood Shirley
Crew:
Position |
Name |
Rank |
Pilot |
Maddox Davies |
F/SGT |
Navigator |
Roy Wilson |
F/SGT |
Bomb Aimer |
Sgt. Eric Adams |
SGT |
Engineer |
Steven Gaskill |
SGT |
Wireless/Gunner |
Greg Wilsher |
SGT |
Mid-Upper |
Francis Duckham |
SGT |
Tail |
Francis ‘Frankie’ Jennings |
SGT |
Missions:
Mission Number/Date |
Target |
Result |
13 |
Brest |
DNB |
14 |
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15 |
Emden |
On Target 20% |
16 |
Dusseldorf |
On Target 20% |
17 |
Wilhelmshaven |
Off Target 5% |
18 |
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19 |
Mannheim |
On target 30% |
20 |
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Credited Kills:
Mission No. |
ME 110 F-4 |
ME 110 G-4 |
JU 88 C-6 |
JU 88 G-7 |
DO 217 J-1 |
DO 217 N-2 |
HE 219 A-0 |
FW 190 A-5UZ |
ME 109 G-6U4N |
ME 262 B-1AU1 |
TA 154 A-0 |
DO 217 J-1 (Italy) |
13 |
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14 |
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15 |
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16 |
1 |
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17 |
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18 |
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19 |
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20 |
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Mission AAR
Yorkshire Rose lost on Mission 12
Mission 13 - Gardening: Clear skies on a warm summers evening as we lifted from the airfield for a spot of ‘Gardening’. ‘Digging for victory’ takes on a slightly different meaning as we head southward over the patchwork of fields and hedgerows, hamlets and their byways. The low altitude course allows us to view England's ‘green and pleasant land’ with a fondness as we prepare to leave her behind, for a while, as we approach the coast and head out into the Channel.
A sea fog obscures the view of departure from land and soon we are just skimming low and full cloud cover.
“Squadron HQ report increased activity from the Luftwaffe in the Channel, harrying our shipping lanes. So, all defensive gunnery positions manned and high alert, Chaps. Its likely we may have company along the way”... crackles the skipper through the comms. ‘Frankie’ thinks he spotted a JU-88 through the patchy cloud and haze but couldn’t be sure. Observations racked up a notch!
Tracer fire arcs across us from our rear and 2 shells slam into the tail. ‘Hows is it back there Frankie?’. ‘The guns are out of commission and the dead mans handle is busted, so the exit is locked shut and I’m trapped in here’... came the frustrated reply. Duckham gets a burst off but to no avail and we can see our assailant bank around for a second run from beneath our rear end. A brief salvo from the ventral gun misses the mark before more rounds slam into us taking out our ammo boxes for the mid turret, but more of a concern is the flying shrapnel opening up Tony Parkes abdomen! A serious, wide and deep wound that Steve Gaskell (Flt. Eng.) immediately tries to tend to.
With tail and upper turret U/S in comes ‘Fritz’ again spraying our starboard wing and front end. Now our front turret is jammed and out of service. We are literally defenceless with a full payload sitting beneath us!
‘Better to live to fight another day, Gents, thats it we are turning back’. The skipper takes us around and back towards Blighty. Nerves are on edge as we know that if we get spotted once more we have no way of fighting off our attacker.... the skipper makes the decision to keep the payload as we don’t want to seed the Channel with mines in unknown locations. A long half hour or more sitting tight, with Tony looking worse by the minute as Gaskill tries to stem the bleeding and keep him as comfortable as he can, before we cross back over land and are on the home stretch.
P/O Davies radios ahead, alerting our ground crews that we need immediate medical assistance and evacuation, as well as a fire team on stand by, ‘ We have a seriously wounded airman and a full bomb bay with more than half a fuel payload.. all assistance is required. Be ready for us, starting our approach’.
Landing could not have been softer. Tony stretchered out in quick order, his war over and done with. As the mechanics get the crowbars on the rear turret to extricate ‘Frankie’. The rest of us head for debrief thankful that P/O Davies made the call to get us home and our colleague the medical help he needs so badly.
Mission 15 - Emden: A bombers moon tonight bringing with it both joys and concerns. Our briefing as clear as the moonlight, take out as much of the docklands and moored Kriegsmarine vessels in Emden Harbor as we can. The German navy has been causing untold trouble and loss to our shipping and needs to be curtailed.
In the front of the formation ‘Sherwood Shirley’ rises through the battering rain and emerges from cloud into a starlit sky. Coastal fog obscures our departure from Blighty. Not much in the North Sea tonight as we get sporadic glimpses through patchy then full blankets of cloud. Nothing bothering us other than the bumpy turbulence as we approach the north German Coastline.
‘Descending to low altitude, below the cloud line, we need descent visibility on our run. Maximum attention gentlemen. Things may start to bet busy’.
Triple A and flak burst all over us with a round passing behind our navigators seat from fuselage floor to ceiling exit... a couple of flight maps off the table as Roy Wilson jumped involuntarily as a consequence. The tail guns open up on a me110 coming at is from our six o’clock, taking fire from the Ge4man aircraft that knocks out our tail guns and cuts off the oxygen flow to mid turret to boot.as he came at us again.. As he approaches again from our six we are unable to give any defensive fire, its a good thing that Frankie moved to the ventral gun as the tail turret shattered from the incoming fire. That's the last we see of him as we line up the run.... ‘steady, steady... bombs gone, Skip’ right over the main harbor area.
We make a sharp, banking turn and head out toward the sea with AAA seeming to chase us away. Another plane, a Dornier we think, flashes past above us on it’s way to some other target. As we head back over the sea the rumble of Flak drifts away and a calm returns with just the growl of our engines is heard. No night fighter contact all the way home, just as it was on the outward course.... the Luftwaffe seem to have been kept very busy in the close defense of their ports tonight as other Squadrons pound Willhelmshaven and Lubeck
A gentle landing in cleared weather, ‘ Enjoy the milk-run, we won’t have many like that’ !
Mission 16 - AAR
Mission 17 - Only two 110 F-4’s encountered during the mission… both broke away after fire from tail turret gunner… AAA took out the landing gear so a bumpy slide to a halt on return to base.. no great damage.
Mission 19 - AAR
Yorkshire Rose lost on Mission 12
Mission 13 - Gardening: Clear skies on a warm summers evening as we lifted from the airfield for a spot of ‘Gardening’. ‘Digging for victory’ takes on a slightly different meaning as we head southward over the patchwork of fields and hedgerows, hamlets and their byways. The low altitude course allows us to view England's ‘green and pleasant land’ with a fondness as we prepare to leave her behind, for a while, as we approach the coast and head out into the Channel.
A sea fog obscures the view of departure from land and soon we are just skimming low and full cloud cover.
“Squadron HQ report increased activity from the Luftwaffe in the Channel, harrying our shipping lanes. So, all defensive gunnery positions manned and high alert, Chaps. Its likely we may have company along the way”... crackles the skipper through the comms. ‘Frankie’ thinks he spotted a JU-88 through the patchy cloud and haze but couldn’t be sure. Observations racked up a notch!
Tracer fire arcs across us from our rear and 2 shells slam into the tail. ‘Hows is it back there Frankie?’. ‘The guns are out of commission and the dead mans handle is busted, so the exit is locked shut and I’m trapped in here’... came the frustrated reply. Duckham gets a burst off but to no avail and we can see our assailant bank around for a second run from beneath our rear end. A brief salvo from the ventral gun misses the mark before more rounds slam into us taking out our ammo boxes for the mid turret, but more of a concern is the flying shrapnel opening up Tony Parkes abdomen! A serious, wide and deep wound that Steve Gaskell (Flt. Eng.) immediately tries to tend to.
With tail and upper turret U/S in comes ‘Fritz’ again spraying our starboard wing and front end. Now our front turret is jammed and out of service. We are literally defenceless with a full payload sitting beneath us!
‘Better to live to fight another day, Gents, thats it we are turning back’. The skipper takes us around and back towards Blighty. Nerves are on edge as we know that if we get spotted once more we have no way of fighting off our attacker.... the skipper makes the decision to keep the payload as we don’t want to seed the Channel with mines in unknown locations. A long half hour or more sitting tight, with Tony looking worse by the minute as Gaskill tries to stem the bleeding and keep him as comfortable as he can, before we cross back over land and are on the home stretch.
P/O Davies radios ahead, alerting our ground crews that we need immediate medical assistance and evacuation, as well as a fire team on stand by, ‘ We have a seriously wounded airman and a full bomb bay with more than half a fuel payload.. all assistance is required. Be ready for us, starting our approach’.
Landing could not have been softer. Tony stretchered out in quick order, his war over and done with. As the mechanics get the crowbars on the rear turret to extricate ‘Frankie’. The rest of us head for debrief thankful that P/O Davies made the call to get us home and our colleague the medical help he needs so badly.
Mission 15 - Emden: A bombers moon tonight bringing with it both joys and concerns. Our briefing as clear as the moonlight, take out as much of the docklands and moored Kriegsmarine vessels in Emden Harbor as we can. The German navy has been causing untold trouble and loss to our shipping and needs to be curtailed.
In the front of the formation ‘Sherwood Shirley’ rises through the battering rain and emerges from cloud into a starlit sky. Coastal fog obscures our departure from Blighty. Not much in the North Sea tonight as we get sporadic glimpses through patchy then full blankets of cloud. Nothing bothering us other than the bumpy turbulence as we approach the north German Coastline.
‘Descending to low altitude, below the cloud line, we need descent visibility on our run. Maximum attention gentlemen. Things may start to bet busy’.
Triple A and flak burst all over us with a round passing behind our navigators seat from fuselage floor to ceiling exit... a couple of flight maps off the table as Roy Wilson jumped involuntarily as a consequence. The tail guns open up on a me110 coming at is from our six o’clock, taking fire from the Ge4man aircraft that knocks out our tail guns and cuts off the oxygen flow to mid turret to boot.as he came at us again.. As he approaches again from our six we are unable to give any defensive fire, its a good thing that Frankie moved to the ventral gun as the tail turret shattered from the incoming fire. That's the last we see of him as we line up the run.... ‘steady, steady... bombs gone, Skip’ right over the main harbor area.
We make a sharp, banking turn and head out toward the sea with AAA seeming to chase us away. Another plane, a Dornier we think, flashes past above us on it’s way to some other target. As we head back over the sea the rumble of Flak drifts away and a calm returns with just the growl of our engines is heard. No night fighter contact all the way home, just as it was on the outward course.... the Luftwaffe seem to have been kept very busy in the close defense of their ports tonight as other Squadrons pound Willhelmshaven and Lubeck
A gentle landing in cleared weather, ‘ Enjoy the milk-run, we won’t have many like that’ !
Mission 16 - AAR
Mission 17 - Only two 110 F-4’s encountered during the mission… both broke away after fire from tail turret gunner… AAA took out the landing gear so a bumpy slide to a halt on return to base.. no great damage.
Mission 19 - AAR
