550 Squadron and RAF North Killingholme Association

Squadron Operations: Summary Information

Overview

Listed below is the information available for operations to this target flown by 550 Squadron.

Operation Summary: The column headers should be fairly self-explanatory. The term "aborted" as used here covers a number of possibilities:

the operation was cancelled before crews were briefed
the crews have been briefed as to the target, and in some cases the planes may even have been bombed up and the crews on-board at their stations awaiting take-off, before the op has been stood-down
finally a number of cases where the op was already under way and the planes en-route but for whatever reason the operation was aborted (e.g. the master bomber orders the attack cancelled due to weather conditions at target adversely affecting targeting).

Aircraft Deployed: When a link to a particular aircraft is given, this indicates aircraft known to have taken part in this raid (in the records currently available to the web-site author). A record of whether the aircraft returned or failed to return (FTR) is also logged.

Servicemen Deployed: Names of the crew in the operation.

Station Summary: This section is the information from the RAF North Killingholme Station Record Book for the operational date (if available).

Definitions of the abbreviations used are available: here.

Manageable Lists

The amount of data in the database is growing and this is resulting in the "all operations/targets" list getting rapidly bigger and thus slower to generate. There are options to display shorter, more quickly generated, reports if you want to home in on something specific. For example, there are options to generate reports on operations to a single target, or by single aircraft (to all targets) or by single aircraft to a single target. There is, on the database-reports summary page, a short user guide (PDF format) on how to do this.

Operation/Target: Duigny (10 Aug 1944 - 10 Aug 1944)

Operation Summary
Target	Out	Back	Aborted (Y / N)	Comments
Duigny	10 Aug 1944	10 Aug 1944	N	Twenty aircraft were offered, accepted and briefed for operations again an oil storage depot at DUIGNY. The target was reached and bombed in clear weather, which was heavily defended by accurate predicted Flak, which scarred several of our aircraft and caused two slight casualties F/O Dubois "H" was hit in the neck by shrapnel and in spite of severe pain and loss of blood safely brought the aircraft back to base. F/S Francis (A/B of "V") also sustained a slight wound in his leg whilst over the target. F/O Shaw "F" when outward bound lost the use of one of his engines and reached the target about 9,000 ft below the bomber stream. He successfully bombed his target and was escorted home by five Spitfires. "F" attracted the attention of numberous Flak batteries but reached base safely. Photographs were once again of excellent quality.

Aircraft Deployed			Servicemen Deployed
Aircraft Service Number	Returned or FTR	Comments	Crew Details
LL800	Returned	Primary 16,000 ft at 12.02 hrs	F/O R Purvis (P) Sgt S Leary (F/Eng) F/Sgt C Stoddard (Nav) F/Sgt K R S Scholefield (A/B) Sgt L W Guthrie (W/Op) Sgt J Wright (MU/AG) Sgt V S B Scoble (R/AG)
EE139	Returned	Primary 16,000 ft at 12.00 1/2 hrs. Bomb aimer slightly wounded in leg over target. Several flak holes in fuselage and bombbays	F/O J C Hutcheson (P) Sgt S Wright (F/Eng) Sgt D F Smith (Nav) F/Sgt J K Francis (A/B) W/O W Y Smith (W/Op) Sgt E C Hodgson (MU/AG) Sgt A F Tosh (R/AG)
EE193	Returned	Primary 16,000 ft at 12.0 1/2 hrs	P/O N D Holdsworth (P) Sgt H Mimmack (F/Eng) Sgt V Kirby (Nav) Sgt C S Venables (A/B) Sgt J A C Steer (W/Op) Sgt W Johnston (MU/AG) W/O H Granger (R/AG)
LL748	Returned	Primary 15000 ft at 12.05 1/2 hrs	W/O W H S Ansell (P) F/Sgt G W Battersby (F/Eng) F/O C R Cameron (Nav) F/O I H R Hood (A/B) Sgt A Anderson (W/Op) Sgt E W Parker (MU/AG) Sgt O Tabuteau (R/AG)
PA991	Returned	Primary 16,000 ft at 12.00 hrs
ME905	Returned	Primary 7,500 ft at 12.00 hrs. Starbound inner out on way out over enemy terrirory.
LM228	Returned	Primary 15,500 ft at 12.01 hrs	F/L J C Lord (P) Sgt K W C Down (F/Eng) F/Sgt R Sebaski (Nav) Sgt A A A Vass (A/B) P/O J Elliott (W/Op) Sgt A J Schomberg (MU/AG) Sgt P J Sculley (R/AG)
LM182	Returned	Primary 16,900 ft at 12.00 hrs. Aircraft damaged by H/F. Pilot wounded in neck by flak over T/A, but brought aircraft safely back to Base.	F/O W F Cox (A/B) F/O M L Dubois (P) Sgt H Tulip (F/Eng) F/O J C Young (Nav) Sgt H Wood (W/Op) Sgt R Eves (MU/AG) Sgt L R R Haynes (R/AG)
LL811	Returned	Primary 15,000 ft at 12.06 hrs	P/O J R Rigby (Nav) F/L R P Stone (P) Sgt G E White (F/Eng) F/Sgt E W Holliday (A/B) Sgt D E Norgrove (W/Op) Sgt L G B Wartnaby (MU/AG) F/Sgt F Wright (R/AG)
PA995	Returned	Primary 16,000 ft at 12.01 hrs
DV200	Returned	Primary 15,000 ft at 12.03 hrs [Ed: F/O Caswell (F/Lt Rose crew) recorded in his log book 39 flak holes in their aircraft, and starboard inner feathered.]	F/L N L Rose (P) Sgt K L Willis (F/Eng) F/O R C Foote (Nav) F/O E G Caswell (A/B) Sgt G W Page (W/Op) F/O J S Tointon (MU/AG) Sgt G S Spragg (R/AG)
W5005	Returned	Primary 15,000 ft at 12.05 hrs [Ed: Sgt R Finlay listed as flying F/Eng, and also in ME583! Cannot be in both!]	F/O W D Robertson (A/B) F/O V A Thygessen (P) Sgt R Finlay (F/Eng) F/O E C Packham (Nav) Sgt A Pavlovitch (W/Op) Sgt A E Howting (MU/AG) F/O H B Parker (R/AG)
LM273	Returned	Primary 16,000 ft at 12.02 hrs	F/O J J W Dawson (P) Sgt E W C Edmunds (F/Eng) F/Sgt F W Willmer (Nav) F/Sgt K P Brady (A/B) Sgt J M Palmer (W/Op) Sgt J Earnshaw (MU/AG) F/Sgt W H Harkness (R/AG)
ME583	Returned	Primary 15,000 ft at 12.06 hrs [Ed: Sgt R Finlay listed as flying F/Eng, and also in W5005! Cannot be in both!]	F/O H G Manley (P) Sgt D R Hughes (F/Eng) F/O R G George (Nav) F/Sgt R Hill (A/B) F/O G T Brown (W/Op) Sgt G B Ward (MU/AG) P/O J K McDonald (R/AG)
ME776	Returned	Primary 16,300 ft at 12.00 hrs
PD221	Returned	Primary 16,000 ft at 12.00 1/2 hrs
PD255	Returned	Primary 15,800 ft at 12.02 hrs	P/O H S Vaughan (P) Sgt R W Metcalfe (F/Eng) P/O L C Davies (Nav) F/Sgt D Porter (A/B) Sgt T Elliott (W/Op) Sgt W J Watson (MU/AG) Sgt L D Purser (R/AG)
LL831	Returned	Primary 15,000 ft at 12.05 hrs	P/O R Hopman (P) Sgt A R Gow (F/Eng) F/Sgt J K Sharpe (Nav) F/Sgt G R Martin (A/B) F/Sgt F G Ferguson (W/Op) F/Sgt R E Sloan (MU/AG) F/Sgt R E McKenzie (R/AG)
PD208	Returned	Primary 16,000 ft at 12.01 1/2 hrs	Sgt G H Town (P) Sgt G Hope (F/Eng) F/Sgt D J T Slimming (Nav) F/Sgt J H Windsor (A/B) F/Sgt P D Probert (W/Op) P/O E C Ball (MU/AG) F/Sgt J Teasdale (R/AG)
ND972	Returned	Primary 15,500 ft at 12.00 1/2 hrs	F/Lt R Thomas (P) Sgt S F Beardmore (F/Eng) Sgt V R Farmer (Nav) F/Sgt A C H Stack (A/B) Sgt E J Wilkins (W/Op) Sgt J J Curtis (MU/AG) Sgt C R Cronk (R/AG)

Summary Statistics

Based on the data in the lists displayed above, and keeping in mind that data is still being updated and thus not yet complete, the following statistics are generated:

Aircraft Deployment Statistics

Aircraft deployments	20
MAX Aircraft deployed in single operation	20 (Duigny, 10 Aug 1944)

These details were last updated: 13 April 2024

Note

this list is still being built and will take some time to complete
what is currently displayed is believed accurate but much more is still to be added

This note describes the options currently available to produce a smaller, more manageable list and also describes planned future enhancements to the reporting facility.

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