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William Woodland 10th January 1916

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1st May 1943
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Back L to R, M Stewart, D Sheldon, unknown, K Hall, J S Harris, R F Noden, Front L to R, R Martin, W Woodland
 
Service History for Sgt. William Woodland 1318406
 
Enlisted on 9th of May 1941 in Oxford, civilian occupation given as Ships Joiner, living at "Morton", Holly Place, Hampstead, London, N.W.3. Placed in reserve on the 10th of May 1941. On 14th of July 1941 started training at No 1 ACRC (air crew reception centre) based at Lords Cricket Ground. After this he moved on to No. 6 I.T.W. (Initial training wing) Aberystwyth on 2nd of August 1941 then onto No. 1 E.A.O.S. (Elementary air observers school) in Eastbourne on the 15th of November 1941.

After this training in the UK he was sent to South Africa on the 12th of February 1942 for further training joining No. 75 A.S. (Air school) Lyttelton, Pretoria on 22nd of March 1942, onto No. 45 A.S. (Air school) at Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, South Africa - Air Observer School on the 7th of April 1942, then onto No. 43 A.S. Port Alfred, Eastern Cape, South Africa - Bombing and Gunnery School on the 19th of July 1942 returning to the UK on the 19th of September 1942.

On return William is posted to RCAFVR PRC on the 9th of October 1942 and onto RAF Lindholme on the 7th of November 1942. The 10th of November 1942 saw him move again to No. 1481 (Bomber) Gunnery Flight at RAF Binbrook, then onto No. 12 Squadron on the 6th of December 1942 for the start of his first tour.
 
List Of Operations For William Woodland
 
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

11/1/1943
12/1/1943
16/1/1943
17/1/1943
21/1/1943
27/1/1943
2/2/1943
7/2/1943
25/2/1943
26/2/1943
5/3/1943
8/3/1943
9/3/1943
11/3/1943
22/3/1943
3/4/1943
4/4/1943
13/4/1943
16/4/1943
20/4/1943
26/4/1943
28/4/1943
30/4/1943
13/5/1943
11/6/1943
7/7/1943
5/9/1943
1/5/1944
 Essen
Essen
Berlin
Berlin
Essen
Dusseldorf
Cologne
L’Orient
Nuremburg
Cologne
Essen
Nuremburg
Munich
Stuttgart
Essen
Essen
Kiel
Spezia
Pilsen
Stettin
Duisberg
Minelaying Baltic
Essen
Bochum
Dusseldorf
Training
Mannheim

W4366
W4791
W4370
W4370
W4370
W4370
W4370
W4370
W4370
W4370
W4370
W4370
W4370
W4370
W4370
W4925
W4925
W4925
ED548 or W4794
W4925
W4925
W4925
W4925
W4366
W4791
ED548
W4370
W4794

 PH-R
PH-W
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-V
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-N
PH-R
PH-W
PH-X
PH-C

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
lost
lost
lost
lost
lost
lost
 

The Crew of Lancaster I, PH-N, W4925, 12 Squadron Wikenby, Raid on Essen 30/01 May 1943

JAMES WALLACE POTTS, Flight Lieutenant, Pilot, 123653, 01/05/1943, 29, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, United Kingdom Son of Andrew Alexander Potts and Mary Elizabeth Potts, of Auckland City, New Zealand. M.A. (Cantab.)
Grave 17. WINTERSWIJK CEMETERY

KENNETH HALL, Flight Sergeant, W/Op Air Gnr, 635059, 01/05/1943, 23, Royal Air Force, United Kingdom, Husband of E. Hall, of Caverswall, Staffordshire.
Grave 18. WINTERSWIJK CEMETERY

JACK SIDNEY HARRIS, Sergeant, Air Gnr, 1312247, 01/05/1943, ?, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, United Kingdom
Grave 19. WINTERSWIJK CEMETERY

FRANK BRUCE GILLAN, Flight Sergeant, Pilot 2, 409042, 01/05/1943, 29, Royal Australian Air Force, Australian, Son of Bruce and Gladys Gillan; husband of Lorna Mary Gillan, of Preston, Victoria, Australia.
Grave 20. WINTERSWIJK CEMETERY

RONALD MARTIN, Sergeant, Flt Eng, 1010657, 01/05/1943, 23, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, United Kingdom, Son of George Henry and Mary Ellen Martin, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
Grave 21. WINTERSWIJK CEMETERY

WILLIAM WOODLAND, Sergeant, Air Bmr, 1318406, 01/05/1943, 27, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, United Kingdom, Son of Ernest William and Dorothy Woodland, of Bray, Berkshire.
Grave 22. WINTERSWIJK CEMETERY

LEONARD GILL, Sergeant, Air Gnr, 1351297, 01/05/1943, 22, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, United Kingdom, Son of Ernest and Emily Gill, of York.
Grave 23. WINTERSWIJK CEMETERY

DEREK SHELDON, Sergeant, Nav, 745491, 01/05/1945, ?, R.A.F.V.R, Runnymede Memorial Panel 139.

 
Report of the raid on Essen on 30th April / 1st May 1943

Lancaster PH-N W4925 12 Squadron took off from R.A.F. Wickenby, Lincolnshire, part of a force made up of 305 aircraft (190 Lancaster's, 105 Halifax's and 10 Mosquitoes) to attack the city of Essen. The raid was considered a success despite the cloud cover this night. No bombing photographs were available but 238 crews reported that they had bombed Essen. 189 buildings were destroyed, 237 severely damaged. The Krupps factory was hit again and 53 people on the ground were killed and a further 218 injured. The raid cost the RAF 12 aircraft (6 Lancaster's and 6 Halifax's) 81 crewmen were killed, 2 injured and a further 17 made P.O.W.

Lancaster W4925 PH-N was shot down by Hptm. Wilhelm Dormann of 9/NJG1 on the way to Essen with combat taking place at 6,000 mtrs. 4 km south of Winterswijk at 02.36 hrs.

Hptm Wilhelm DORMANN, Germany, 14 kills, 8 & 9./NJG1, JG300, He died in 1984 aged 78, I believe Dorman flew an Me-110.

The bombing commenced at 02.31 hrs. and continued until 03.19 hrs. on the 1st May.

A 1946 report by a Missing Research and Enquiry Unit stated “The Chief Inspector of Police at Winterswijk stated that about 0240 hours on 1 May 1943 a 4 engine English bomber was seen to be attacked by a German night fighter and burst into flames. A few minutes later the aircraft was seen to dive and crash on a farm belonging to J Prangen, Woold, K163, about 3 miles east of Winterswijk.

 

Details of the Lancaster W4925

Serial Range W4761 - W5012 This aircraft was one of a batch of 200 Lancasters ordered from Metropolitan Vickers in 1940 and built as 170 Mk.1 (W4761-4982) with Merlin 20 engines and 30 Mk.111 (W4983-5012) with Merlin 28 engines from Sep42 to May43. That were delivered to Woodford for assembly and flight-testing. Delivered to 12 Sqdn Mar43. when lost W4925 had a total of 97 hours. Airborne from Wickenby (Time not recorded). Shot down by a night- fighter (Hptm Wilhelm Dormann, 111,/NJG1) and crashed 0240 near Winterswijk (Gelderland) Holland, where seven of the crew are buried in the town's General Cemetery. F/S Sheldon has no known grave. Notification of F/S Hall's DFM appeared in the London Gazette on 28Mar44. F/L Potts was a New Zealander from Auckland City. Note: The F541 entries for the month of Apr43 have been omitted from the Squadron records, hence it has not been possible to identify the times of take-off for aircraft reported missing during this month. F/L J.W.Potts KIA Sgt F.B.Gillan RAAF KIA Sgt R.Martin KIA F/S D.Sheldon KIA Sgt W.Woodland KIA F/S K.Hall DFM KIA Sgt L.Gill KIA Sgt J.S.Harris KIA This was an eight-man crew, probably indicating an ABC aircraft.

Airborne Cigar (ABC)
From what information I can find it was only fitted to the Lancasters of 101 Squadron. It had three large aerials, two sticking out of the top of the fuselage and one under the bomb aimer's position. These aircraft carried a German-speaking crew member on board and were used to jam radio to German night fighters and feed false information on allied bomber positions to them. Due to the nature of the equipment, the enemy was able to track the aircraft and due to this, 101 suffered the highest casualty rate of any squadron. Fitted from October 1943, they remained until the end of the war.