Thunderbirds At Peenemunde, 17-18 August, 1943


The operation on Peenemunde was the Thunderbirds' first raid flying the Avro Lancaster; the first RCAF squadron to use that bomber in combat. Bomber Command detailed 596 aircraft for the attack that would hit the targets in three waves. No 426 Squadron provided nine Lancs, and were part of the third wave. This attack was unusual in that it was launched on only about twelve hours notice, carried out in bright moonlight, controlled by a Master Bomber, G/C J.H. Searby, the CO of No 83 Squadron, and targeted specific buildings as opposed to large areas. Those targets made up the secret research establishment producing the Vergeltungswaffe 2 (V-2) rocket. A diversionary attack on Berlin was successful in fooling the Luftwaffe at first, but by the time of the third wave, the bombers were confronted by night-fighters in considerable numbers. For the Germans, it was the debut of 'schrage Musik', which translates as swing/jazz music, so named because of the raucous beat of the twin upward-firing cannons mounted in the cockpit of the Me110. This weapon system was extremely successful for the Luftwaffe and where employed brought down bombers on every operation from this raid on.

Bomber Command lost forty aircraft on the Peenemunde raid, most of them from the third attack wave. Considered a success, the attack set the V-2 development program back at least two months, and reduced the scale of the rocket attacks on England that began about a year later. 

Two Thunderbird crews failed to return; DS681/OW "V", piloted by W/C Crooks, and DS674/OW "M", piloted by F/L Shuttleworth. Of Crook's crew only the bomb aimer, Sgt K.W. Reading, bailed out and was taked prisoner. The navigator, F/S Howes, bailed out but his parachute failed to open. Crooks and the rest of his crew died in the crash and are buried in the Berlin War Cemetery at Charlottenburg, Germany.


W/C Leslie Crooks, DSO, DFC

Crooks was the second Thunderbird CO to die in combat. W/C L. Crooks, DSO, DFC, (Peterborough, Northamptonshire) was on his ninth trip of his second tour of operations. The navigator, F/S A.J. Howes (Shepard's Bush, London) had completed two sorties. The wireless operator, F/L F.P. Marsh, DFC, (Toronto, Ontario) had completed five trips of his second tour. The flight engineer, Sgt J.C. Hislop (Glasgow, Scotland), and the mid-upper gunner, P/O T. Dos Santos (Port of Spain, Trinidad) were on their first operation. The rear gunner, Sgt H.M. Smith (Toronto, Ontario) had completed twenty-five sorties. Shuttleworth and his crew were never heard from again, and have no known grave. F/L D.D. Shuttleworth, DFC, (Regina, Saskatchewan) had twenty trips behind him. The navigator, F/O G.C. Robinson (Regina, Saskatchewan) had twenty-one completed missions. The wireless operator, Sgt K.G.D. Gawthorpe (Cypress River, Manitoba) was on his eighteenth sortie and bomb aimer, Sgt J.M.L. Bouvier, DFM, (Vercheres, Quebec) was on his twentieth. Mid-upper gunner, G.W. Scammell, DFC, (Hampstead, London) was on his sixteenth mission of his second tour. Rear gunner, Sgt G.W. Bentley (Southampton, Hampshire) had ten completed sorties. Flight engineer, Sgt S. Barnes (Bolton, Lancashire) was on his first operation.

This is possibly the last photograph of Crook's Lancaster