1923
1936
Eric J and Aileen R Merces
Milicross, Mill Lane, Shoreham by-sea, W. Sussex
Day boy- joined Middle IVA in 1936 and left December 1939 in Upper VIth.
Passed Oxford Junior Certificate July 1939.
Passed entrance exam in to RAF November 1939.
156 Squadron. Lancaster bombers based in Warboys Huntingdon-Pathfinders.
Amersfoort (Old Leusden) General Cemetery
Utrecht
Netherlands
Plot 13 Row 9 Joint Grave 178
Grave shared with:
Pilot Officer T.J. Brewer (Air Gunner)
Sergeant R. Prankett (Flt. Engineer)
W.O. R. Stanners (Pilot)
Sergeant E. Hopcraft (Navigator)
Other crew members of flight JA921 buried in the same cemetery:
Air gunner Sergeant Thomas Brewer
Wireless Operator Sergeant Humphrey Hughes No Known Grave
Bomb Aimer F/O J Kingston P.O.W. Stalag Luft Sagan
Took off from Warbys at 00:23. Crashed at 5:30am in an area known as the Zuidpolder, Utrecht
19/20th February 1944
Leipzig: 823 aircraft - 561 Lancasters, 255 Halifaxes, 7 Mosquitoes. 78 aircraft - 44 Lancasters and 34 Halifaxes - lost, 9.5% of the force. The Halifax loss rate was 13.3% of those despatched and 14.9% of those Halifaxes which reached the enemy coast after ‘early returns’ had turned back. The Halifax lls and Vs were permanently withdrawn from operations to Germany after this raid.
This was an unhappy raid for Bomber Command. The German controllers only sent part of their force of fighters to the Kiel mine laying diversion. When the main bomber force crossed the Dutch coast, they were met by a further part of the German fighter force and those German fighters which had been sent north to Kiel hurriedly returned. The bomber stream was thus under attack all the way to the target. There were further difficulties at the target because winds were not as forecast and many aircraft reached the Leipzig area too early and had to orbit and await the Pathfinders. 4 aircraft were lost by collision and approximately 20 were shot down by flak. Leipzig was cloud covered and the Pathfinders had to use sky marking. The raid appeared to be concentrated in its early stages but scattered later.