Picture 1. RAF 37Sqn Liberator 'V Victor' hit by 1,000lb bombs from 70 Sqn 'R Roger' 16 Mar '45 Picture 2. RAF 37Sqn Liberator 'V Victor' hit by 1,000lb heads for home with a smoking port inner 16 Mar '45 Picture 3. RAF 37Sqn Liberator 'V Victor' - now on the ground - crew inspects the damage - 16 Mar '45
Great images! Lucky lads indeed. Considering the 'metal overcast' such raids often formed, it's no wonder that these kind of incidents occurred. Cheers Owen
I've worked out that this was over Italy and that 70 sqdn were also using Liberators. Any idea whether there were any casualties in the crew - the mid-upper gunner must have been very close to the path of one bomb?
That is Liberator KK320 'R' of 37 Squadron. V-Victor was actually the 70 Squadron which dropped the bombs (though it's attribution to the 37 Squadron is widespread on the web). It was being flown by Squadron Leader Lionel Charles SAXBY (the chap leaning out of the hole; the chap sticking his head up out of the top is the navigator, P/O G T Barker), on a mission to bomb the Monfalcone marshalling yard. No injuries but the aircraft was SoC.
Liberator Mk.VI. KK320 V/37 KK320 (S/L. L C. Saxby and crew) was flying at 12,000 feet on 16 March 1945 while taking part in an attack on the shipyards at Monfalcone N Italy when she was struck by bombs from a Liberator of No.70 Squadron. One bomb took out the port inner engine, while another passed through the fuselage via the upper turret which was not occupied at the time, but it hit a W/Op in the back leaving him unconscious. KK320 was able to make the return journey of 300 miles back to base (Tortorella) without further casualties. The aircraft was struck off charge on 26 April 1945. Regards Peter
Thanks to all for the excellent info on this one. I have a trio of slides showing two of the pictures in the original post, in my battle-damage show. Another close-up of the damage to the forward fuselage appears on p116 of Chaz Bowyer's Guns in the Sky and it was certainly a Hell of a close call. I have several pictures of a 578 Sqn Halifax which had a 1,000-lb HE from a Lancaster go right through the fuselage aft of the MUG during a daylight op in Sept 1944, and there are of course, numerous cases of 8th USAAF B-17s and occasionally B-24s (who says they could'nt take the knocks ?) staggering along after taking hits from 'friendly' bombs. BC
I've got an account of a similar incident with a Lanc I think. Actually, now I'm thinking Stirling but that could be because I'm doing lots of 75 Sqn reading a the moment. I'll try to dig it out. Someone give me a slap if I haven't done so in a few days!
Andy, I'd be very interested to see it, or anything similar. Some of the quite-well known (and used) pictures I have found have a background which is at odds with the 'official' accounts. For example, one account of a Lanc which supposedly had the TT shot off by "combined firepower from two FW 190 night-fighters" turned out to have been another victim of a 'friendly' bomb. BC
V-Victor Im sorry but that is incorrect.V Victor was the plane that was hit. My grandfather KH Westrope was tail gunner on V Victor with L Saxby at the controls. The mid upper gunner was Wally Lewis who was knocked unconcious by ok, the only injury was to Cliff Hurst the radio op who was injured by flying metal pieces although he still worked on his radio sets all the way home. The intercom packed up and my grandfather got his chute on and headed to the front of the plane, apparently it was a bit windy going past the hole. He and the others attributed their survival to Saxby who pulled the plane out of a steep dive at the last minute, they thought it was going to break up.They all assumed the the wheels were not down so assumed crash positions but it was a smooth landing. My grandfather is still alive at 89 and has just published his memoirs called "A rear gunners tale". Anyone wanting a copy let me know. Robert Emeny
