550 Squadron Crew
F/O P M Roche and Crew
F/O Roche and crew were posted to 550 Sqdn w.e.f 8th July 1944:
- F/O P M Roche RCAF (P) (KIA)
- Sgt P A O Adams (F/Eng) (KIA)
- F/O R W Archer RCAF (Nav) (KIA)
- F/O D Rudd (A/B) (KIA)
- F/O S G Spakowski (W/Op) (KIA)
- F/O R F Calderhead (MU/AG) (KIA)
- F/O E T Meaker (R/AG) (KIA)
The crew flew only five operations: the first on 19th July, and the last 28th July when they were lost on a raid to Stuttgart. Sadly this was a very short period they had on the Squadron (although not the shortest of tenures on the squadron, close to it). All of the crew were killed and are buried in Blamont Cemetery, France.
F/O Roche had, of course, done one more than the rest of his crew; so six ops. He flew his "second dicky" op as 2nd pilot to F/O Wareham, 18th July Caen, ME776.
Other information about the final flight and the target available here.
The entry on the 550 Squadron Roll of Honour is available here.
See also the following (external links):
- Crash du Avro Lancaster - type B I/B III - s/n LM455 BQ-T
- The crash site of Paul Roche's Lancaster III LM455 BQ-T (YouTube)
- Faces of Freedom Exhibit Canadian Veterans Site, main display photo bottom row, extreme right
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F/O Paul Martin Roche
Thanks to Christine Lang (great niece) for making the picture available |
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Memorial to F/O Roche and crew
Precise location given at: Lancaster LM455 Memorial |
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Received from France with the following information:
"... my grand father several years [ago] gave me an object from a crash. It was Sunday on July 29th in the country of Blamont, east of France. My grand father was walking with a cow on the little road from Harbouey to Blamont when he smelt a strong odour of gazoline. He saw a little blue light on his right in the middle of the field. He was the first to understand what had happened. He was 17 years old only so very frigthened. But he took off middle of road just one object. On this it written 'scale co ordinate.square n01 MG.CO.LTD'." |
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As above |
Commemorative Event
On VE Day in 2019 there was a Commemorative Event held in Blamont in the presence of relatives of the lost air-crew.
See the Blamont Memorial web-page.
Recovered Wreckage of LM455/BQ-T
In October 2025 a number of photographs of wreckage of the rear turret of LM455 were received from the Maire de Blāmont. A resident who had recovered remains of the plane in the 1960s brought them to the town hall. These aircraft fragments are now held in the Blamont Town Hall Archive.
Many thanks to Thierry Meurant for permission to display the photographs on the web-site.
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The name "EDDIE" in one of the photos appears to confirm that this would be position of F/O E T (Edward Thomas) Meaker the rear gunner.
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Some serial numbers are visible, but it may not be possible to glean much information from these.
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The CGWC headstone of F/O Meaker.
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