207 SQUADRON ROYAL AIR FORCE HISTORY
LANCASTER R5616 EM-J
This aircraft took off from RAF Bottesford at 2100 on 16th August 1942 for mine laying duties in the Kattegat coastal area of Denmark code named Geraniums. It crashed in the sea SSW of Mano (Fano) Island.
Pilot P/O Anthony Jeaffreson SOUTHWELL RAF(VR) Flight Engineer Sgt Jack READ RAF(VR) Observer F/O Dennis John QUINLAN RCAF Wireless Operator/Air Gunner F/O Wilfrid Milton EDMONDS RAAF Wireless Operator/Air Gunner Sgt Robert ROBSON RAF(VR) Air Gunner (Mid Upper Turret) Sgt Thomas DOUGLAS RAF Air Gunner (Rear Turret) F/Sgt John Andrew McLEAN RCAF All except Jack Read were killed. They were buried on 22 August in Fourfelt Cemetery, Esbjerg, Denmark. Sgt Jack Read was made POW and was in Stalag Luft III, prisoner no.42821.
The Squadron History ALWAYS PREPARED says: "Then came what turned out to be 207 Squadron's final, and sad, mission from Bottesford, when six Lancasters took off on 16 August to drop mines in areas Willow and Geranium. Two failed to return: R5616 EM:J piloted by P/O AJ Southwell which crashed into the sea off Fano Island, Denmark, and R5509 EM:G with F/Sgt NJ Sutherland and crew, which was also thought to have come down in the sea. A Danish newspaper Nationaltidende report next day stated that a British aircraft had been shot down by a fighter and had crashed to the South of Fano, four of the crew being dead and the fifth brought ashore injured. This was Sgt J Read, flight engineer of R5616, who survived to be captured."
JACK READ'S POW LOG (from the RAF ExPOW website)
QUINLAN CORRESPONDENCE & PHOTOS WEB PAGES (from the Canadian Letters & Images Project website)
Google Maps - Fano Island, Denmark
last updated 14 August 2008: 18 Nov 17
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