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Lancaster III JB143 ditched in the North Sea. 30/9 1943.
The aircraft belonged to RAF 50 Sqn Bomber Command and was coded VN-L.
T/O 18:24 Skellingthorpe. OP: Gardening Spinach I (Baltic Sea off Gdynia).
Flying at 2300 metres altitude JB143 was attacked by a German night fighter
piloted by Oberleutnant Werner Speidel of 10./NJG 3.
The Halifax was damaged and ditched at 01:43 hours in the North Sea on a
position fixed to be 55`50N 05`38E.
The whole crew managed to get out of the bomber but Navigator Sgt Bernard
Ridsdale was washed away by a wave and disappeared. He has no known grave and is
commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
The remaining crew who were Pilot P/O R.M. Code RCAF, Flt. Engr. Sgt A E.
Langford, Air Bomber Sgt E F. Coling, W/Op. P/O A Noble, Air Gnr. Sgt H.J.
Boyton and Air Gnr. Sgt C R. Moad RCAF drifted in the dinghy until they were
observed from the fishing vessel FN 416 ” Niels Aaen” of Frederikshavn and on
3/10 taken to Thyborøn.
Upon arrival they were made POW`s by the German Wehrmacht and sent to Dulag Luft
in Oberursel near Frankfurt. After interrogation Code and Noble were sent to
Stalag Luft III Sagan while the others were sent to Stalag IVB Mühlberg a.d.Elbe.
AIR 27/487, CWGC, Journal of Lemvig police, OLCB, TW, Nonnenmacher file.
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