merrillfl

NAME	POSITION	AIR-FORCE	COMMENTS
F/L Merrill.F.L. DFC.	Pilot	RAAF	Posted to 463 Sq 25.11.43.
Sgt Rawsthorne.F.L.	Engineer	RAF
P/O Knight.J.H.	Navigator
F/L Hall.J.B. DFC.	Bomb Aimer	RAAF
P/O O’Toole.M.K.	Wireless Operator	RAAF	Posted OTU 30.8.44
F/S Sattler.A.	Wireless Operator	?	1/2.3.44
Sgt Turner.B.E.	Gunner MU	?	KIA Oxygen failure. 20/21.1.44 See notes at page bottom.
F/O Reed.E.J.	Gunner MU	RAAF
P/O Palmer.	Gunner MU	?	22/23.3.44
Sgt Humphries.	Gunner MU	?	26/27.3.44
Sgt Dankwardt.F.P.J.	Gunner Tail	RAF
F/S Bowman.N.J.	Gunner Tail	RAAF	15/16.2.44

DATE	TARGET FOR TONIGHT	AIRCRAFT	COMMENTS
29/30.12.43	Berlin	JA973 JO.O
1/2.1.44	Berlin	JA973 JO.O
20/21.1.44	Berlin	DV274 JO.R	Trouble with the oxygen. See notes at page bottom.
15/16.2.44	Berlin	DV280 JO.S
19/20.2.44	Leipzig	LL790 JO.O
21/25.2.44	Schweinfurt	DV274 JO.R
25/26.2.44	Augsburg	LL790 JO.O
1/2.3.44	Stuttgart	LL790 JO.O
15/16.3.44	Stuttgart	LL790 JO.O
18/19.3.44	Frankfurt	LL790 JO.O
22/23.3.44	Frankfurt	LL790 JO.O
27/28.3.44	Essen	LL790 JO.O
30/31.3.44	Nuremberg	LL790 JO.O
5/6.4.44	Toulouse	LL790 JO.O
10/11.4.44	Tours	LL790 JO.O
11/12.4.44	Aachen	LL790 JO.O
18/19.4.44	Juvisy	LL790 JO.O
20/21.4.44	La Chappelle	LL790 JO.O
22/23.4.44	Brunswick	LL790 JO.O
24/25.4.44	Munich	LL790 JO.O
8/9.5.44	Brest	LL790 JO.O
10/11.5.44	Lille	LL790 JO.O
11/12.5.44	Bourg Leopold	LL790 JO.O
19/20.5.44	Tours	LL790 JO.O
22/23.5.44	Brunswick	LL790 JO.O
24/25.5.44	Eindhoven	LL790 JO.O
27/28.5.44	Nantes	LL790 JO.O
31/5.1/6.44	Saumur	DV373 PO.R
3/4.6.44	Ferme D'Urville	DV280 JO.S
5/6.6.44	St-Pierre-du-Mont	DV280 JO.S
6/7.6.44	Argentan	LM587 JO.L
19.6.44	Watten	LM587 JO.L
23/24.6.44	Limoges	LM587 JO.L
29.6.44	Beauvoir	LM587 JO.L
14/15.7.44	Villeneuve-St-Georges	LM587 JO.L
18.7.44	Caen	LM587 JO.L
25.7.44	St Cyr	LM587 JO.L
26/27.7.44	Givors	LM587 JO.L
30.7.44	Cahagnes	LM587 JO.L
31.7.44	Joigny Lahroche	LM587 JO.L
12.7.44	Vaires-sur-Marne	LM587 JO.L
2.8.44	Bois De Cassan	LM587 JO.L
13.8.44	Bordeaux	LM587 JO.L
15.8.44	Gilze Rijen	LM587 JO.L
19.8.44	La Pallice	LM587 JO.L
F/L Fred Merrill and crew mostly flew in Bruce Dalby’s well known A/C LL790 JO.O which was known as OGLING OLWYN FROM OODNADATTA so called because Fred was from Oodnadatta but sadly it was finally lost on 30.8.44. With 489 hrs up, Merrill and his same crew went on and did his second tour in the photo and film A/C LM587 JO.L. There were 2 camera operators carried in the camera A/C but in the early period when it was flown by Merrill they were not listed in the crew. Although ORBs comment on the good film shot, the camera men were not listed.
In the op to Saumur 31/5.1/6.44 when a 467 A/C is listed a maximum effort was called for and as 467 were short of crews Fred Merrill elected to fly it.
In the op to Berlin 20/21.1.44 Sgt Turner B.E had trouble with his oxygen supply and after the engineer Sgt Rawsthorne had vainly tried to get it fixed he died from lack of oxygen. I was Freddy Merrill's rear gunner, but because of a 'flu epidemic', did my first op. with P/O Hemsworth on 3/4.12.43. The remaining 44 trips were with Freddy, quite a few of them with the RAF Film Production Lanc. Regarding the death of Bert Turner on 20/21.1.44, this was caused by a small piece of flak that cut the oxygen supply to the mid-upper turret. He became anoxic, was sick into his mask and choked. When unconscious he kept his hand on the control, so the turret kept turning, and it took Rawsthorne, O'Toole, and Hall to get him out. I went back to help after we left the enemy coast, but by that time it was clear that he was dead.