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Read by Brian
Harris at the launch of At First Sight at the Mosquito Aircraft Museum
on 20 September 1991
“May I be
allowed to occupy five
minutes of your valuable time. Back to 22 November 1944, when 9
Mosquitoes of 627 Squadron were briefed to mark U Boat pens at
Trondheim for 171 Lancasters. Many of you present will be familiar with
this unhappy bombing mission.
Unfortunately on the way to the target one of the Lancasters had his RT
Transmit button down, so all the intercom chatter by her crew was heard
far and wide, this not only included the name of the local pub but the
name of the target
ahead. Other ears heard the transmission, so by the time the force
arrived at the target it was covered by a very effective smokescreen.
At briefing the Mosquito crews were told, in order to avoid civilian
casualties, their marking
must be very accurate; that was impossible so the attack was called off.
On the return
journey one of the Mosquitoes, AZ-H DZ642, was short of fuel so the
pilot John Reid and his navigator Wes Irwin made for Sumburgh in the
Shetlands. There were also communications problems but in spite of help
from other Mossies and Lerwick, H-Harry sadly crashed on a hill top.
Some days later the wreckage was found by three shepherds.
“Nearly 50
years later Mark Reeder, a helicopter pilot flying with Bristows,
spotted the crash site, landed, took some photographs and with the help
of the Public Record Office at Kew,
discovered it was a 627 Squadron Mossie. I had a phone call from Mark –
“Can I come and see you – you were on 627?”. We met and he showed me
the excellent photos he had taken at the crash site. “Any chance of
your taking a video for
me some time?” I asked. Within a week I had a complete record of this
remote site; it is amazing how much remains, including an undercarriage
with its wheel and tyre in place. I sent the video to Andrew Denholm, a
navigator with 627 who
is with us today. He had a friend visiting Shetland who offered to
enquire about DZ642. He discovered Mr John Mann whose uncle George Mann
was one of the first men to find the wreckage. Among the scattered
debris he found a watch and
before he died he asked his nephew John to take the watch and try to
trace a relative to give it to.
“The make was
Optima. However, after contacting the British Horological Institute
they suggested a fellow member by the name of John Read – same name as
the pilot of DZ642. I thought this could be a good omen, in fact it
was, he told me just what I wanted to hear: “watches of this make were
issued to RAF navigators”. I was now certain it was Wes Irwin’s.
“This now
brings me to the moment when I have immense pleasure in asking Douglas
Irwin to come up and receive the watch worn by his father on that
fateful night nearly 50 years ago.”
In 1998
Mike Hopkins of Sandwick, Shetland, arranged for a memorial to John
Reid and Wesley Irwin to be erected at the crash site. The memorial
bears the following inscription.
This memorial
commemorates
De Havilland
Mosquito Mk VII*
“DZ642” of
627 Squadron
Royal Air
Force
Pilot – F/Lt
John A. Reid
RAF 48900
Navigator –
F/O Wesley D. Irwin
RCAF J16115
Returning
from target marking
An ill-fated
raid on U-Boat
Pens at
Trondheim, Norway,
Short of fuel
and in bad visibility, the aircraft hit
Royl Hill on
22 November
1944 at
23.00 hours.
*This is
an error – it was actually a BIV
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