Aeroplane September 2017

AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 57

over. Fixed it but it was too late to bomb on a

second run. Jettisoned the full load safe. Saw a

Halifax going down and as we heard the SOS

message we didn’t send one.”

19 September 1944: All of 419’s aircraft

on this raid to Donburg were recalled because

of bad weather, their bombs being jettisoned.

25 September 1944: Poor target marking

could not prevent Fg Off W. W. Osborne and

crew attacking gun emplacements south of

Calais.

14-15 October 1944: Plt Off R. G.

Mansfield was forced to bring KB700 back

early from this mission to Duisburg, “as all

four engines were fluctuating — could not get

any height over 17,000ft and engines were

pushed at that. Decided to abandon operation

at Reading”. Some of the bomb load was

jettisoned, the rest brought back.

23-24 October 1944: “From two reports

it would appear that this was not a particularly

effective attack”, says the ORB entry for this

raid on Essen. On returning, Flt Lt A. A.

Bishop diverted to Woodbridge in KB700,

which was “short of petrol and needed a long

runway for landing with air speed indicator

unserviceable.”

30-31 October 1944: To Cologne, the

pilot again Bishop. Crew recounted: “General

bombing could have been better if markers were

more concentrated”. All aircraft diverted on

their return, KB700 to Little Snoring.

1 November 1944: A largely uneventful

mission to Oberhausen.

4 November 1944: Flt Lt A. G. R.

Warner’s first mission piloting KB700, to

Bochum. “Large fires covered an area two

miles square... Excellent attack”. He flew Ruhr

Express on all but one of its subsequent sorties.

6 November 1944: “It was not expected

that the results of this attack will be good”, said

the ORB of this raid on Gelsenkirchen.

15 December 1944: Target Ludwigshafen.

“Well concentrated, fires really going to town”,

wrote Warner. KB700 landed back, along with

several other aircraft, at Deopham Green.

18 December 1944: A challenging sortie to

Duisburg. “On the route to and from the target,

very bad weather was encountered combined

with severe icing, with big wind changes. The

target was obscured by 10/10ths cloud and

bombing was done on Gee, H2S and Wanganui

[a sky-marking method]”. KB700 employed

Gee, and diverted into Abingdon on its return.

21 December 1944: Fg Off W. W.

Osborne flew KB700 this time, the target being

marshalling yards in Cologne. It had one 500lb

and one 1,000lb bomb hang up; both were

jettisoned safely.

28 December 1944: The crew reported

of this raid on Opladen, “If PFF [Pathfinder

Force] was on, attack was definitely a success!”

29 December 1944: With low cloud,

KB700 bombed the Scholven oil refinery

outside Gelsenkirchen with the aid of sky-

marking flares. “One large explosion seen

with flames and black smoke (oily) coming up

through the cloud. Good attack.”

just over a year ago. It was used for some

considerable time as a training [aircraft], having

dual controls fitted, and all of the squadron’s

original Lancaster crews were converted from

Halifax IIs to Lancaster Xs on her. KB700 was

christened the Ruhr Express and it met this

inglorious fate on completion of its 50th sortie.”

The event also featured in the summary of

the month’s activities by 419’s new CO, Wg

Cdr M. E. Ferguson. “The loss of KB700

by fire on the night of 2 January was most

regrettable”, he wrote, “particularly as this

aircraft was the prototype of Lancaster Xs... It

was used on D-Day. From that time it was used

operationally and it functioned very well until

this most unfortunate incident...”

With that, hopes of returning KB700 to

Canada for preservation came to an end. As

the records show, Ruhr Express had become

increasingly troublesome, with many instances

of unserviceability and long periods out of

action. Some dubbed it ‘the Ruhr Whore’. But

the first Canadian Lancaster deserved a better

fate than to burn out after a ground incident.

The CWHM machine will carry the Ruhr

Express markings on its port side throughout

its 2017 flying season, which ends on 11

November. The starboard side still sports the

serial KB726 and codes VR-A, repainted more

accurately this year, in lasting tribute to Plt Off

Andrew Mynarski VC of No 419 Squadron.

So, Canada’s last flying Lancaster now salutes

its first, as well as the most gallant of all

exploits by an RCAF crew member on

the type.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The extracts from

operations record books included in this

piece have been edited for house style.

RUHR EXPRESS

KB700 overshot the

runway, and when taxiing

back hit a trench-digger.

A fire started and the

aircraft was destroyed

30-31 December 1944: “Bombing

concentration seemed to be very poor” on this

mission to Cologne.

2-3 January 1945: “Weather clear”,

wrote Warner after this raid on Nuremberg.

“Identified target visually... Really good prang

— everything concentrated in centre of town.”

However, as the ORB describes, this mission

came to an unhappy end. “On the return

from this operation, KB700 [...] overshot the

runway on landing, and when taxiing back to

the perimeter track, hit a trench-digger; a fire

started and the aircraft was almost completely

destroyed. KB700 was the first Canadian-built

Lancaster and was delivered to the squadron

ABOVE: Perhaps the

most famous Canadian

Lancaster of them all,

thanks to its extensive

flying with the CWHM,

now depicts the first.

ERIC DUMIGAN/CWHM

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