LeslieMcConnell

Leslie McConnell - a small tribute by John Magee

The two men in the picture above, taken in Belfast during the war, had very different destinies. On the left is my father Jim Magee, who lived a long and full life, and his memory is treasured by his family and all who knew him. He died at home aged 84. On the right is Leslie McConnell, who gave his life at 23.

Leslie was a close pal of my father, and you can be sure that any friend of my Dad was a good man. They went for a drink together in Belfast when Leslie was home on leave, and he said he just had to fly one or two more missions before he would be rested from duty. Soon afterwards he was reported missing, assumed killed over Germany. His family must have felt a terrible loss, and my Dad and his other friends never forgot him. They never knew what really happened, but now on the 60th anniversary, with the help of this impressive website, at least a little of his story can be told.

It’s hard to pay proper tribute to someone you never met, and no doubt there are some inaccuracies in what I’ve written, but I’ll try to do some justice to a man who made the greatest sacrifice.

Leslie, like my father, was the son of a tailor. He joined the Harry Ferguson Motor Company in Belfast as an apprentice mechanic before the war. The garage was at the rear of Donegall Square, in Upper Arthur Street. He was a talented artist, who could quickly draw pictures of people in pubs and so on. Ferguson was the main dealer for Austin cars, and when Leslie drew a sketch of an Austin Seven, the Managing Director saw it and put him in charge of publicity at the age of 18 or 19. He also worked as a salesman in the showrooms.

When the war started, the garage was turned over to the task of making parts for aircraft (including Stirling bombers), tanks and guns. Although there was no conscription in Northern Ireland, after a few months Leslie decided to volunteer for the RAF. He trained as a fighter pilot in Canada, but was grounded for “low flying” – his brother James tells me that he was “always a daredevil sort of character”! He eventually joined bomber crews as a navigator, wireless operator and air gunner.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website enables you to find details for any casualty of the war. In Leslie’s case, it shows that he now shares a grave with his fellow crew members in the Berlin War Cemetery. This invaluable Squadron website made it possible to trace more details of what happened.

Sergeant Leslie McConnell joined 467 Squadron and later 463 Squadron, based at Waddington near Lincoln. In late 1943 and early 1944 they flew over 20 missions to various German cities, helping to destroy German factories. Ironically, back home in Northern Ireland, his old colleagues at Ferguson (including my father) were now working outside the city at Moira to avoid the German bombing.

Amazingly, I found a specific commendation for Leslie in the Squadron log for the raid of 16^th/17th December 1943 – “We were hit and the bombardier was wounded in the leg and was bleeding rather badly. He was cared for by the Wireless Operator / Air Gunner who deserves credit for his work and patience.”

On Sunday 30th January 1944, at the age of 23 Leslie was the wireless operator on Lancaster ED 949. The rest of the crew were also in their early 20s - the pilot and rear gunner were Australian, the others British. They took off at 5:17 pm to join 534 bombers attacking Berlin, and amongst other things the German Propaganda Ministry was hit. Sadly, Lancaster ED 949 was one of 33 not to return that night.

Some mysteries remain, which I would dearly like to solve ...

	The wounded man Leslie helped seems to have been "Coals V.L." (bomb aimer). He doesn't appear in the crew again – I wonder what became of him?
	Even more intriguingly, there's a crew member on the final flight of ED949, "Smith M.T" who is entered in the crew records as "Missing, some records show as POW”. Alan Cooper’s book “Bombers Over Berlin” indicates that this man was a POW in Stalag LVI – could he still be alive to tell the tale of what happened that night?
	I understand that Bill Chorley’s book lists ED949 as having crashed at Neuruppin, about 35 miles north of Berlin. Again, I wonder if any witnesses are still able to tell us more?

The 463 Squadron Operational Record Book for 30^th January 1944 contains only the stark words "Aircraft missing. No messages or signals received." I hope this tribute page serves to record something more of Leslie McConnell’s short but priceless life.

John Magee, Warwick, England. Telephone: 01926 400993

Contact John Magee

Just to complete the story, like many Ferguson workers my father moved over to England after the war when the Ferguson tractor factory was set up in Coventry. He married Rosemarie in 1954, had two sons (John and Richard), and lived at Cubbington near Leamington Spa until he died on 28th October 2000. I think he would be pleased that his old friend's story has finally been told.