299 Squadron

Tanky Challenor: SAS and the Met
Tanky Challenor: SAS and the Met
By Harold Challenor MM, Alfred Draper
Onward We Charge: The Heroic Story of Darby's Rangers in World War II
Onward We Charge: The Heroic Story of Darby's Rangers in World War II
By H. Paul Jeffers
T

tim4848

Member
Has anyone ever got hold of the Air Ministry Squadron Operations Records for 299 Squadron from the National Archives?

299 Squadron were used from April 1944 for SOE operations amongst other tasks and I believe they will have been the squadron using RAF Keevil based Stirling aircraft for dropping 2SAS on Operation Pistol in September 1944

I am particularly interested in the documents with catalogue reference numbers.... AIR 27/2586 and AIR 27/1654 (possibly in 2 parts) which relate to the month of September 1944
 
These documents are actually available to download for a small fee. I now have AIR 27/1654 and now have another piece of the jigsaw for Operation Pistol.

Here's a small extract from the whole document:-

DATE: 15.9.44

AIRCRAFT TYPE & NUMBER: STIRLING IV XGT LJ 572

CREW: F/O HARDWICK 170733, F/SGT WEBB 1335001, SGT WHITE 1811662, F/SGT FAMEY 1453685, P/O KETCHESON J87137, W/O MCKEE R116136

DUTY: PISTOL 2B S.A.S

TIME UP: 2042

TIME DOWN: 0230

DETAILS OF SORTIE OR FLIGHT: FRANCE. Exact D.Z. found but troops dropped(14) at our request in open country 2 miles N E at positions 4900N 0715E. No Containers carried. Weather good after passing through frost. No enemy opposition encountered.

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DATE: 15.9.44

AIRCRAFT TYPE & NUMBER: STIRLING IV 5GS LJ 919

CREW: P/O BAYNE AUS 422531, F/O CLIFFORD 140866, SGT HUME 1567551, F/SGT TEE AUS418988, SGT DIXON 1538481, SGT ROBBINS R209918

DUTY: PISTOL 2A S.A.S

TIME UP: 2039

TIME DOWN: 0240

DETAILS OF SORTIE OR FLIGHT: FRANCE. D.Z. AT 4906N 0645E pinpointed by map reading and 12 troops and 2 panniers successfully dropped in right spot. All chutes seen to open. Weather good except for valley mist. No enemy opposition encountered.


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So it's finally good to know that the aircraft that dropped my grandfather and others managed to return safely. He will have been amongst the 12 on aircraft 5GS LJ 919 with an Aussie pilot.

The majority of the flights were SOE and MARKET GARDEN, so if anyone's looking for these, let me know.


Graham A... If you're reading this, I'll check through the remainder of the document to see where the flight is with C party embarked as it's not the next in sequence for some reason. Maybe the aircraft he was on was from a different squadron (maybe 298 or 196 squadron)
 
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scrip...asp?B=11570000

after searching for service numbers on the internet of crew members of LJ919, i found a link to what his a very detailed history of the pilot's career. if you click on the link above and then click on view digital copy to the top right it brings up digital copy of his career

if you go to page 300, there's actually a photo of Bayne from the 1940s...... and going back from this page you can see that 3 days after dropping 2SAS off during Operation Pistol, his aircraft was shot down at Arnhem with all the same crew on a different aircraft number, all crew survived and taken prisoner

apologies that this seems to be going off topic but I find it very interesting and thought others might too, especially knowing that the National Archives of Australia have such info
 
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