550 Squadron

P/O D C Dripps and Crew

P/O Dripps and crew were posted to 550 Squadron on squadron start-up from 100 Sqdn "C" Flight w.e.f. 25/11/43:

A very short time after Squadron formation, and indeed before the Squadron had re-located from Grimsby (Waltham) to what was to become its home airfield (North Killingholme) the crew was lost on operations to Berlin when DV343 / BQ-X2 failed to return 23/24 Dec 1943. With no known burial place all are commemorated on the walls at Runnymede.

The entry on the 550 Squadron Roll of Honour is available here.

Other information about the flight and the target available here.

Information gleaned, chiefly from the CWGC web-site, includes:

Dripps (Australia) and Stewart (Canadian). They were both of Scottish roots.
Campbell age 22 from Lanark
Orme born Penrith, in the 1939 census living in Carlisle working as a bank clerk.
Gillies age 21 from Ash near Canterbury.
Sibley age 20 from Kenilworth.

Information about the Loss of DV343

The following summary information was available on the LostAircraft.com site:

"Serial Range DV155 - DV407: This aircraft was one of 200 Lancasters ordered from Metro-Vick in 1941 and built as 91 Mk.Is 
with Merlin 22 engines and 109 Mk.IIIs with Merlin 28 engines from May 43 to Dec 43. DV343 was a Mk.I and was delivered to 
460 Sqdn Oct43, joined 100 Sqdn 12 Nov 43 and 550 Sqdn 25 Nov 43 Took part in the following key Operations: No Key Raids 
with 460 Sqdn. 
With No.100 Sqdn as HW-X, Berlin 18/19 Nov 43; Berlin 22/23 Nov 43. with No.550 Sqdn as BQ-X2, Berlin 26/27 Nov 43 - 550 Sqdns 
first Lancaster operation; Berlin 2/3 Dec 43; Berlin 16/17 Dec 43; Berlin 23/24 Dec 43 - Lost. When lost this aircraft 
had a total of 82 hours. 
DV343 was one of two 550 Sqdn Lancasters lost on this operation. See: ED730 airborne 2354 23 Dec 43 from Grimsby. 
Lost without trace. 
All are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. 
At 18, Sgt Scott was amongst the youngest airmen to be killed on Bomber Command operations. 
P/O D.C.Dripps RAAF KIA Sgt J.C.Scott KIA F/O J.E.Stewart RCAF KIA Sgt W.T.Sibley KIA Sgt D.Campbell KIA 
Sgt R.Gillies KIA F/O G.C.Orme KIA"

In mid/late 2022, some new/additional information was received. Many thanks to Kath Robinson and John Williams (158 Sqdn archivist). Much of that information is included in the sub-sections below.

Kath found paperwork relating to F/O Orme's death that notes "... the aircraft shot down by a night fighter into the North Sea about 30 miles off Petten, The Netherlands".

John notes: "Theo Boiten in his Nachtjagd Combat Archives has Lancaster DV343 of 550 Sqn shot down by Ofw Karl-Heinz Scherfling of 12./NJG1 for his 23 or 24 victory. He also claimed 100 Sqn Lancaster JB594 in the same area, one at 06.14hrs and the other at 06.34hrs."

The 550 ORB shows that the squadron aircraft were getting airborne for the op at or around midnight. P/O Dripps was airbourne at 23:54. All the returning aircraft were landing again at or around 07:30-08:15 (one or two outside that range and one early return at 02:00). So it would seem likely that DV343 was lost on the homebound leg if the fighter claim is good.

See also: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/219844. This notes "Shot down by night fighter pilot Oberfeldwebel Karl-Heinz Scherfling of the 12./NJG 1, flying a Bf 110 G-4 from Leeuwarden airfield.", and http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=DV343.

James Clark Scott (F/Eng)

Many thanks to Rob Mitchell for providing much of the following information, photos and documents.

James Clark Scott (12/05/1925 - 24/12 /1943) ws born in Hawick. James had a brother (Tom, born 27/03/1924) and a sister Margaret (born 06/01/1936). Jimmy was focused on joining the RAF and did so as soon as he was eligible, ca. 1942.

	James Clark Scott (F/Eng)
	J C Scott group photo
	J C Scott group photo (back of photo, signatures)

	Jimmy Scott, Whitley Bay, 1937
	Jimmy Scott with family

	J C Scott, birth certificate
	Day School Record Card 37-38
	Day School Record Card 38-39 and 39-40
	Day School Record Card summary page

John Edgar Stewart (Nav)

	J E Stewart RCAF, Attestation Paper
	J E Stewart, Certificate of Death

Other Crew Information

Ancestry Records for each of the crew members.

	Donald Campbell Dripps
	James Clark Scott
	John Edgar Stewart
	Walter Thomas Sibley
	Daniel Campbell
	Raymond Gillies
	Geoffrey Charles Orme

Information about Karl-Heinz Schferling

Once again thanks to John Williams for the following photos and details.

	Karl-Heinz Schferling (top of page)
	Schferling crew info
	Schferling crew info

Scherfling was himself killed later in the war. He and his crew were flying Bf110 G-4 G9+EZ (21/22 July 1944) when they were spotted by W/C Bromley the CO of 169 Sqdn Mosquito NT113 at 01.25hrs. Both wings of the Bf110 were raked and set on fire and plunged down from 3000 meters. They jettisoned the cockpit but only Fw Scholz got out with a bullet in the leg. Both Scherfling and Winkler were found in the wreckage the next day 5 kms north of Mol in Belgium.