415 Squadron Association
No. 415 (TB) Squadron, which came to be known as Swordfish, formed at Thorney Island, Hampshire, England, on 20 August 1941 as the fourth Coastal Command unit and the only Torpedo Bomber unit out of thirteen RCAF overseas squadrons. Motto: Ad metam (“to the mark”). Originally, they flew Handley Page Hampden aircraft to attack enemy ships in the English Channel and along the Dutch coast. They also attacked shipyards.
In October-November 1943, the 415 moved operations to Bircham Newton Airfield, Norfolk, and began flying Vickers Wellingtons and the Fairey Albacore, a bi-plane. The 415 was the only RCAF unit to use the Albacore in WW II. The Wellington was used to locate E-boats (English designation for the German “S-Boote”: fast patrol boats, armed motorboats, and large torpedo boats) and the R-boats (German motorized minesweepers). The Albacores, with a single torpedo slung below the aircraft, were sent to attack them. The 415 also participated in laying down smokescreens for the landing of the Allied troops on D-Day.
After D-Day, coastal operations could be scaled back, so the #415 (TB) was transferred from No.16 Coastal Command to No. 6 Group RCAF Bomber Command, Bircham Newton, on 12 July 1944 and designated #415 (B). With this change came other changes in a short time frame. There was a new commanding officer: W/C J.G. McNeill, who served in that capacity for only five weeks (12 July to 21 August). The unit also got a different aircraft: The Handley Page Halifax MkIII and MkVII. Lastly, on 26 July 1944, the 415 was relocated to No. 62 RCAF base at East Moor in Yorkshire. In order to fill out the crews so that there would be some experienced men on each one, personnel were “imported” from other squadrons. The 415 flew over 100 bombing missions between 28 July 1944 and 25 April 1945 and lost over 200 crew members of the RAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and RAFVR. We are going to account for nine of them.
Step Four: Getting Personal
My lucky day occurred on 7 March of this year when I found the site of the 415 Squadron Association (See Sources.) It was the best of all, because there one can read the names of every 415 Squadron crew involved in WW II. They are arranged chronologically and according to type of aircraft flown. There are photos of many of the crews, as well. The name Dugald Morrison was nowhere to be found. Other Morrisons, yes, but not a Dugald. More specifically, he was not listed as a member of F/O (P) A. G. Stein’s crew! Why not? I double checked every name on every crew. Nothing. There will either be a Real Story…or No Story at all. Are you with me? Here we go! You are about to meet Chris Henneberry..
Acting on intuition only, I sent a letter to the contact e-mail for the 415 Squadron Association, noting the omission of Dugald’s name and suggesting there might have been an error made due to the multiple changes in such a short time. Maybe Dugald had not been on Stein’s crew at all? Maybe he had been a last-minute substitution and gotten left off of the roster? What I was about to learn was this: F/O (P) Dugald Morrison had been with 415 Squadron for exactly TWO days before the fatal bombing run, and F/O (P) A.G. Stein, eight days.
The following is the reply of 10 Mar 2024 from the Association President, Chris Henneberry. He has given his permission to be quoted directly. I felt that paraphrasing would not do the clarity of his words justice. His reward (chuckle, chuckle) is a copy of this story.
“I have searched the records we hold to confirm Dugald's short time on 415 Squadron.
In mid July 1944, 415 Squadron was building up crews having been transferred from Coastal Command to Bomber Command/Six Group. The reformed Squadron was located at East Moor in Yorkshire and was receiving crews from each of the other twelve Canadian squadrons in 6 Group.
On 20 July 1944, F/O Stein's crew joined 415 from 433 Squadron. This seven member crew did not include Dugald. The crew flew its first and only mission with 415 Squadron on 28 July 1944. The mission target was Hamburg and they were augmented by Dugald (Pilot) and Sgt McElroy (Air Gunner who joined the Squadron on 21 July 1944). Their aircraft, LW595 Halifax Q, failed to return from this mission with a loss of nine Squadron members.
At the time, it was standard practice that all new Squadron crew commanders (of which Dugald was one) would fly at least one mission, with an experienced crew prior to taking their own crew on an operational mission.
Dugald and his newly formed crew joined 415 Squadron on 26 July 1944. They had just completed their Heavy Conversion on the Halifax bomber at 61 Training Base RCAF located at Topcliffe Air Base (a mere 30 minute drive from East Moor). As a newly arrived crew commander, he was assigned to an operational crew to observe a mission. Tragically he died on that mission.
Of note, most of the members of F/O Morrison's crew, formed a new crew led by F/O Milibank. It would seem that this crew completed its tour of duty with 415 Squadron.
Unfortunately we do not hold a photo of the Morrison crew. Nor do we hold any individual photos of the crew members.
As explained above, on very short notice Dugald joined the Stein crew for a single mission.
F/O D. Morrison, Pilot, is remembered on the 415 Squadron Roll Of Honour, copies of which are held at the Squadron and the Greenwood Military Aviation Museum at 14 Wing Greenwood Nova Scotia. The Honour Roll is also printed in the book "SWORDFISH - The Story of 415 Squadron".”
Last Step: A Close-Up Look
On the night of 28-29 July 1944, when No.6 Group RCAF Bomber Command sent out 234 bombers with various missions, sixteen of them were crewed by the newly formed 415 (B) Squadron. Of the sixteen, one crashed on take-off (crew safe); fourteen made the round-trip run, having bombed the target city. Only one aircraft did not return. It was Handley Page LW595 Halifax-Q, with a crew of 9 instead of 7. It had left East Moor at 22:29 hours and went down at Stotel, Cuxhaven, Germany, short of its mark. The official word is that the cause of the crash is unknown but was probably due to “enemy fire by a night fighter.” According to the casualty notification sent by the RCAF to Dugald Morrison’s parents on 10 Feb1945, he was first reported “Missing” on 29 July and “subsequently reported Missing Believed Killed (German Information).” Dugald and all but one of the other crew members were initially buried by the Germans locally, near the crash, at Geestemunde Cemetery, Feldstrasse 18, Bremerhaven, Germany. Morrison, Robertson, McElroy, and Reason are at Grave Nos. 42-45, respectively, Grave No. 41 was a “Collective Grave” designated “Unknown.”
After the war was over, a cemetery was laid out on the Lunenburger Heide (Heath), where Field Marshall Montgomery accepted the German surrender from Admiral Donitz on 4 May 1945. Remains were brought from other cemeteries and reburied in the new location: Becklingen War Cemetery, B3/ Becklingen, 29614 Soltau, Germany. The cemetery contains 2,374 burials from the Commonwealth. Dugald Morrison’s marker with the poignant inscription is at 24.A.12.
With him, all in a row are:
--P/O Lloyd William McElroy, RCAF, J/90348 (prev, R/215657) age 22, of Darlingford, Manitoba. Air Gunner, Grave 24.A.14. (no epitaph).
--P/O George Campbell Reason, RCAF, J/90353 (prev. R/203204) age 19, of Toronto, Ontario. Wireless Operator, Air Gunner, Grave 24.A.10. “In life, loved and honoured, in death, remembered.”
--P/O Walter Dennis Robertson, RCAF, J/90352 (prev, R/221630) age 19, of Vancouver, British Columbia. Air Gunner, Grave 24.A.13. “Who died in violence, rest in peace.”
In the same row at Becklingen is Grave 24.A.11, where the marker reads “Unknown” and represents No.41 from the cemetery at Geestemunde.
Four of the crew members have markers grouped, almost touching, across two graves at Sage War Cemetery, Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany. They are:
--P/O Alfred Wilfred Prosofsky, RCAF J/90354 (prev. R/203933) age 20, of Regina, Saskatchewan. Air Gunner. Collective Grave 10A 12-13.
--F/O George Kenneth Renaud, RCAF J/27499, age 27 of Edmonton, Alberta. Navigator.
Collective Grave 10A 12-13.
--Sgt. Angus McLeod MacIver, RAFVR 1372381, age 22, of Knock, Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Flight Engineer. Collective Grave 10A 12-13.
--F/O Arthur George Stein, RCAF J/19151, age 25, of Neudorf, Saskatchewan. Pilot (the crew commander). Collective Grave 10A 12-13.
The ninth crew member was:
--Sgt. Robert Alfred Harvey, RCAF, R14844, age and hometown unknown. Bomb Aimer.
We know only that Sgt. Harvey was the lone survivor of the crash and was taken POW by the Germans. I wish I knew his fate. He is the one who had the most forward position, lying prone in the transparent nose of their Halifax Q, the model known as “The Queen of Them All.”
May all nine be at peace in a Home Far Away.
Notes on Something To Do: The author and her husband had an “Ad Astra” stone laid for Dugald Morrison in 2018 in the RCAF Memorial Airpark at the National Air Force Museum of Canada in Trenton, ON. We did this in honour of my mother’s childhood friend. Each year, in September, the Museum holds a dedication ceremony for the men and women honored in the preceding year. You should go. And if you go, then get a small RCAF flag from the Museum’s gift shop to place by Dugald’s stone in Stonebed F-11 or by the stone of any of the crew members who were with him. Be sure to say you need the flag as it looked in July 1944. Here is a picture of Dugald’s stone and one of the correct flag.
A visit to the Museum, itself, is one of the best experiences you could have even if you are not usually a fan of museums. Everybody there is helpful and knowledgeable. And (hint, hint) they are always looking for reliable volunteers. Check out the website at: www.airforcemuseum.ca/ or phone 613-965-7223.
SOURCES consulted for this story:
--Gunshot and Gleanings, Seventh Town Historical Society, 1987, pp.36, 45.
--Canada Census, 1921, 1931
--Ontario, Canada, Marriages 1826-1939
--England and Wales Birth Registration Index 1837-2008
--Commonwealth War Graves Commission: https://www.cwgc.org/
--National Air Force Museum of Canada, Trenton, ON: www.airforcemuseum.ca/
--St. Catharines Public Library: info@myscpl.ca/ ;emails of 8-9 April 2024
--415 Squadron Association: http://www.415sqn.com>history
--Chris Henneberry, President 415 Squadron Association, e-mail exchange 10Mar-June 2024
--Canadian Virtual War Memorial, Operation Picture Me
--Veterans Affairs Canada: https://www.veterans.gc.ca/; e-mail with T. Shaw, 7 June 2024
--Royal Canadian Air Force Association: https://www.rcafassociation.ca>heritage/history/415
--Wikipedia: 415 Long Range Patrol Force Development History
--Canadian Aircraft Serials Personnel Information Resources: https://caspir.warplane.com/
--"Canada’s Air War 1944” from: https://www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca/ [PDF]
--Second World War Service Files--War Dead1939 to 1947 (bac-lac.gc.ca)
--https://tailendcharlietedchurch.wordpress.com/ (works, but must be typed in)
--Bomber Command Museum of Canada: https://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca