207 SQUADRON ROYAL AIR FORCE HISTORY 83 Squadron & The Wesseling Raid 21/22 June 1944

Martin Middlebrook in his book on the Nuremberg Raid records that a Pathfinder pilot, Flight Lieutenant Ronald Walker of 83 Squadron, came down in Holland following the Wesseling raid of 21/22 June 1944. Walker managed to contact the Dutch section of the escape route. He was in a 'safe' house in Tilburg when it was raided by the Germans. He and two other RAF men, all in civilian clothes, were cold bloodedly shot by Gestapo men, who were themselves sentenced to death for War Crimes (The Nuremberg Raid, Middlebrook, p306).

83 Sqn Lancaster III JB180 OL-T
Op: Wesseling t/o 2321 Coningsby - S/L AR Dunn DFC

Picked up by a nightfighter which came upon the Lancaster over the target area. F/O Boyle had served with 44 Squadron, his DFM being published in the London Gazette on 12 November 1943. Along with his fellow crew members he is buried in Rheinberg War Cemetery. F/O Fairweather was the son of Maj Donald Norman Albert Fairweather MBE of Belize, British Honduras.

Pilot S/L Albert Robinson Dunn DFC RAF
F/E F/O Samuel Boyle DFM RAFVR
Nav F/O Gilbert Walter Fairweather DFC RAFVR age 22
B/A F/O Douglas Louis Cramp DFC RAFVR age 23
W/Op F/O Howard Spencer RAFVR
M/U Sgt Thomas Norman Usher RAFVR
R/G F/S Douglas George Bertie Scarff RAFVR

83 Sqn Lancaster III ND551 OL-V
Op: Wesseling t/o 2318 Coningsby - F/L RA Walker DFC MID

Intercepted by a nightfighter and exploded, throwing clear F/L Walker who managed to evade capture for several weeks before falling into the hands of the Gestapo. On 9 July, in the area of Tilburg, he was shot and his name is now commemorated on panel 203 of the Runnymede Memorial. The others who died when their Lancaster fell in open countryside 3 km S of Valkenswaard (Noord-Brabant) rest in Eindhoven (Woensel) General Cemetery. All DFM recipients had their awards Gazetted on 25 January 1946.

Pilot F/L Ronald Arthur Walker DFC MID RAFVR evd age 21
F/E F/S Harold Edward Houldsworth DFM RAFVR age 20
Nav F/L Norman James Cornell DFC RAFVR
B/A F/L John Hall Wells DFC RAFVR age 21
W/Op F/S Reginald Charles Bailey DFM RAFVR age 22
M/U F/S Charles Robert Taylor DFM RAFVR age 20
R/G F/S David Richard Kelly DFM RAFVR