103 Squadron Group :     From July 1942 Bomber Squadron with No 1 Group Location :  11 July 1941-26 November 1945: Elsham Wolds, Lincs Aircraft  :   November 1942-November 1945: Avro Lancaster I and III Sorties:

09-Aug-43	Mannheim	Lancaster	LM343	Operation: 457 aircraft; lost 2.0 per cent*
10-Aug-43	Nuremberg	Lancaster	LM343	Operation: 653 aircraft; lost 2.5 per cent
12-Aug-43	Milan	Lancaster	LM343	Operation: 504 aircraft; lost 0.9 per cent
14-Aug-43	Milan	Lancaster	LM343	Operation: 140 aircraft; lost 0.9 per cent
17-Aug-43	Peenemunde**	Lancaster	LM343	Operation: 596 aircraft; lost 6.7 per cent
22-Aug-43	Leverkusen	Lancaster	LM343	Operation: 462 aircraft; lost 1.1 per cent
31-Aug-43	Berlin	Lancaster	LM343	Operation: 622 aircraft; lost 1.6 per cent
06-Sep-43	Munich	Lancaster	JB152	Operation: 404 aircraft; lost 4.0 per cent
27-Sep-43	Hanover	Lancaster	JB276	Operation: 678 aircraft; lost 5.6 per cent
29-Sep-43	Bochum	Lancaster	JB276	Operation: 352 aircraft; lost 2.6 per cent
01-Oct-43	Hagen	Lancaster	JB276	Operation: 251 aircraft; lost 0.8 per cent
02-Oct-43	Munich	Lancaster	JB276	Operation: 294 aircraft; lost 2.7 per cent
18-Oct-43	Hannover	Lancaster	JB276	Operation: 360 aircraft; lost 5.0 per cent
22-Oct-43	Kassel	Lancaster	JB276	Operation: 569 aircraft; lost 7.6 per cent
03-Nov-43	Dusseldorf	Lancaster	JB528	Operation: 589 aircraft; lost 3.1 per cent
10-Nov-43	Modane	Lancaster	JB423	Operation: 313 aircraft; lost none
23-Nov-43	Berlin	Lancaster	JB530	Operation: 764 aircraft; lost 3.4 per cent
26-Nov-43	Berlin	Lancaster	JB423	Operation: 450 aircraft; lost 6.2 per cent
02-Jan-44	Berlin	Lancaster	JB736	Operation: 383 aircraft; lost 9.0 per cent
05-Jan-44	Stettin	Lancaster	JB736	Operation: 358 aircraft; lost 4.5 per cent
14-Jan-44	Brunswick	Lancaster	JB736	Operation: 498 aircraft; lost 7.6 per cent
27-Jan-44	Berlin	Lancaster	JB736	Operation: 530 aircraft; lost 6.4 per cent
30-Jan-44	Berlin	Lancaster	JB736	Operation: 534 aircraft; lost 6.2 per cent
15-Feb-44	Berlin	Lancaster	JB736	Operation: 891 aircraft; lost 4.8 per cent
19-Feb-44	Leipzig	Lancaster	JB736	Operation: 823 aircraft; lost 9.5 per cent
20-Feb-44	Stuttgart	Lancaster	JB736	Operation; 598 aircraft; lost 1.5 per cent
22-Feb-44	Schweinfurt	Lancaster	JB736	Operation: 734 aircraft; lost 4.5 per cent
25-Feb-44	Augsburg	Lancaster	JB736	Operation: 594 aircraft; lost 3.6 per cent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Includes 2 'Early Returns' and 1 'Did Not Take Off'.

*Source: RAF Bomber Command 60th Anniversary - Diary.

 

103 Squadron at the beginning of March 1943 flew the first of many raids in the Battle of The Ruhr. These were followed in August 1943 by the first of a series of raids referred to as the Battle of Berlin through the winter of 1943/44. As well as Berlin many major industrial cities in Germany were raided but losses throughout were high. [The RAF Elsham Wolds Association.] **See Peenemunde 17 August 1943 and Peenedmunde 2 for full details of the bombing raid. In August 1943, 103 Squadron contributed 24 Lancasters to the force of 600-odd Bomber Command "heavies" sent to make the first-ever raid on the German V-weapons experimental station at Peenemunde. The launch site was used for the development of the V-1 bomb and the A-4/V-2 rocket and had test-stands capable of accommodating engines for the A-10 intercontinental missile.

 

History of a Lancaster Crew 103 Squadron 9-10 August to 22-23 October 1943

Courtesy of Mr Harry Brown, cousin of F/Sgt. Bill Brown

F/Sgt Bill Brown was a member of the crew of Lancaster JB276 shot down on the bombing mission to Kassel on 22-23 October 1943, one of three Lancasters lost that night by No.103 Sqadron. 569 bombers took part, losses were heavy as 7.6% of the attacking planes (48 aircraft and crews) were shot down. Kassel was chosen as a target because of it's aircraft plant and location for the manufacture of locomotives, engines and trucks. Sadly, it was the highest recorded loss of crews and aircraft during the period August 1943 to 25 February 1944, apart from the operation to Leipzig on 19 February 1944 when 9.5% of a force of 823 aircraft were lost. Five members of the brave crew of Lancaster JB276 were killed: Sqn-Ldr C. S. F. Wood MiD, F/Sgt W. R. Brown, F/Sgt J. F. Craig DFM, Sgt C. Kershaw and Sgt H. R. Wilson. They are buried in Hanover War Cemetery. Two members of the crew who survived the crash, F/L C. L. Grisdale and F/L W. H. Hopkins (who had taken John Lowrie's place), became Prisoners-of-War in Camp L1. For 13 ops John Lowrie had been a regular member of the crew who were taking part in the mission to bomb Kassel that night. For whatever reason he was not with them, and it must have been a very sad and poignant moment eleven days later to join another crew on a mission to Dusseldorf remembering so many close friends and colleagues who had shared the dangers of ops to Mannheim, Nuremberg, Milan, Peenemunde, Berlin, Hanover, Bochum, Hagen and Munich. John, too, would be killed in action some fifteen months later close to the Dutch-German border.

 

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