From the "you never know who lives next door" department I learned my neighbor's uncle was F/O Jack Bell who flew with 419 SQN.
One of his aircraft was Lancaster Mk X KB722 VR-A "Hecklin Hare II". He flew VR-A from July 15th to November 2nd 1944. Each mission was recorded as a carrot. After they completed 30 missions they returned to Canada.
KB722 was lost on January 5th , 1945.
The previous VR-A was KB726 which was the one that was shot down on June 13, 1944 and P/O Andrew Mynarski was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroic actions trying to save Pat Brophy.
He showed me a photo (photo of the photo) of his uncle and crew.
There are other sources I used.
Pilot F/O Jack F. D. Bell (Belleville Ontario)
Navigator P/O Richard E. W. Barrett (Belleville Ontario)
B/A P/O Danny C. Barron (Toronto Ontario)
WAG WO J. E. Beaudin
WAG WO Walter M. Loucks ( Beaverton Ontario)(Replaced WO Beaudin)
Flight Engineer Sgt. James "Slim" Priest Minesing Ontario
M/UG F/S Charles "Chuck" Murphy (Toronto Ontario)
R/G F/S R.H. Larry "Buzz" Strain (Duncan B.C.)
IMG_4286 (1) by
Big Gimper, on Flickr
IMG_4287 by
Big Gimper, on Flickr
