Short Stirling Lost 5th June 1944 - Details ?

[K4KittyCrew]

Hi Folks,

Had a message from a new member, David regarding a Short Stirling lost on or around the 5th June, 1944.
Details are as such. If any body can add to this, I would be most grateful.

With supposedly eight crew on board, seems they may have had a 'second dickie' on board.
John
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My father-in-law served in the US Army during WWII. He was stationed in England before taking part in the D-Day invasion. He brought home a small piece of metal, hand inscribed (presumably by him), reading "Sterling bomber June 5,1944, 4 killed, 4 saved".

I have searched the web and found that a Stirling UJ819 was lost on that date, however, in was believed that the whole crew was lost. I don't know what role, if any, that my father-in-law may have played after this craft went down. I have allways been curious about this unusual item that he thought enough of to bring home.

I hope that someone with more knowledge of this incident could add some input.
Cheers,
David

[Bruno]

Hello,

This could be Stirling LJ899 of 299 Squadron which was lost on 6 June 1944 (RAAF Pilot Flight Sergeant Leslie John Gilbert DFM).
LJ899 took off on 5 June 1944 so it could be the right Stirling.
Here is a link on the Forum about LJ899 and its crew:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1229
Kind regards.

Bruno

[AlanW]

Hi Bruno,
F/Sgt Gilberts casualty file, states that his aircraft was LT819, and all crew lost, and possibly nine paratroopers as well, which would not tie in with the statement by David's father in law, that there were four survivors from the crew. There is another Stirling loss, LJ621, of 149sqdn, which had 9 crew on board, which crashed at Marcelett (Calvados), of which 3 survived, although this still does not match the statement.
Regards...Alan

[Bruno]

Hello,

It is confirmed that the serial of the aircraft was LJ819. There were no Stirling with a serial begining with LT.
I thought that David's Father-in-Law spoke about Paratroopers who survived and not the crew. Can David confirm this?
I have the personal account of Lieutenant Dean one of the survivor and here is an extract:

Of the 11 of us who dropped, 3 (including both George Kelly and Alf Turner) were killed in action ; 4 were wounded and never rejoined the battalion, while 4 came through completely unscathed. 2 of them, L/Cpl ARTHUR HIGGINS (jumped No. 4) and Pte JOHN SURGEY (jumped No. 9), ended the war in Germany as my 2 Section Leaders, and together with Pte KEN LANG (jumped No. 11), the last man to jump, who though wounded and out of the Army by Christmas 1944, the 4 of us have revisited the battle area several times together. This is what we have managed to piece together over the years.

Kind regards.

Bruno

[AlanW]

Hi Bruno,
Seems to be a mistake by whoever typed out the reports, as another document in Gilberts file, (although not very clear) confirms it as LJ819

[K4KittyCrew]

Alan, I've just tried to enhance this image.
John