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Author's comment:
This story relates
to some errors in history that have now been corrected.
Derek Thorp emailed
to me about S-Sugar and his dad, John Thorp Rear Gunner 467,
having flown in S-Sugar during WWII. The ORBs listings do not
reflect this so D.Thorp has sent the scans of his dad's log
books and the photo copies of the letters of investigation by
Hendon Museum.
Many thanks to Derek
and Richard Thorp for this information. |
Letter to the
web site by John Thorp
No 467 RAAF Squadron Pilot F/O D.F. McLauchlin
and crew.
View the crew missions
Our crew was scheduled for our first operation
on the 27th May 1944 (A/C letter not known). The operation was
cancelled prior to briefing. We were again scheduled for the
28th May 1944 in A/C R5868 S-Sugar PO-S and we carried out that
operation. R5868 was operational at this time having having
been through a major overhaul as you referred in your email
to Derek. I have a log book entry 23rd May 1944 A/C R5868 Pilot
D.F. McLauchlin, duty was a special exercise, time 3hrs 15mins.
This may have been an air-test prior to returning the A/C to
operational duties. The problem that some records do not show
our using PO-S on the 28th May 1944 may have arisen due to the
crew listings for the aborted op on the 27th and being used
again for the op on the 28th with out it being noticed that
we had been allocated a different A/C.
About 15 years ago Derek's son, Richard, visited
the RAF Museum at Hendon and brought me a booklet "A Very
Special Lancaster S-Sugar. An insert in the book purported to
list the crews who flew on the A/C operationally. Our names
were not on that list and Richard thought his Grandfather was
telling stories.
I wrote to the Museum on this point and they established
the validity of my claim. (See the letters to the left).
Our crew details show our Mid Upper as F/Sgt.
Eric Klemm RAAF. Eric was my room mate at Waddington and flew
with us on our first 20 ops at which point our turn for 7 days
leave cam round. The morning we were due to depart Eric was
taken ill with tonsillitis and was admitted to sick quarters.
When we returned he had recovered and gone on leave. To make
our crew complete and operational we took onboard a spare gunner
F/Sgt. J Kluver who stayed with us until the end of our tour
of 33 ops. Eric joined another crew and went on ops with them.
On the 12th September Eric and crew failed to return. The raid
was on Stuttgart and the A/C was LM226.
In the early 1960's I went to Lincoln Cathedral
where there is a chapel dedicated to No. 5 Group Bomber Command
and I was able to refer to a copy of the Memorial Book kept
there listing the personal from Group 5 who died during the
war. Eric's name was included so he did not survive as even
a POW.
In the early 1970's my wife and I were planning
a car trip and holiday through France and Germany so I wrote
to the War Graves Commission asking the whereabouts of Eric's
grave. The reply was that there is "No Known Grave for
Eric Klemm". There is an inscription at the War Memorial
Runnymeade that I have visited. The inscription shows that Eric
was 30 years old and was the son of Richard and Alice Klemm
of Queensland.
John Thorp.
PS. Our trip on the 28th May 1944 was the 105th
trip for PO-S. The aircraft knew the way better than we did! |
