The Bomber and the Weathervan

This is a compelling story of wartime bravery, unbridled passion and eternal remembrance. The author has captured the drive, emotion and fervency of husband and wife, Helen and John, their story of commemorating the crew of a WWII Lancaster bomber shot down in 1944 with all souls lost, then drawing together, nearly 80 years later and for the first time, family descendants of the crew in an emotional and poignant war memorial dedication, all as a result of the finding of an old, beaten up, metal weathervane, fashioned in the shape of a Lancaster bomber, buried amongst a myriad of items for sale at a salvage yard in leafy Surrey.
In 2009 Helen and John bought the weathervane and placed it on the roof of their house where it remained for the following 9 years. Only when it was removed as part of them packing to relocate to Herefordshire in 2021 was a small inscription noticed on its fuselage, JB453-F. What followed filled their lives for the next 2 years.
JB453 was quickly identified as an Avro Lancaster bomber, built in 1943, and based at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire with 83 Pathfinder Squadron. Research revealed that the aircraft was downed by enemy fire in early January 1944 over Germany during the Battle for Berlin bombing campaign. All seven crew members, from the UK, Ireland, South Africa and Canada, were lost.
Helen and John decided that they should erect a plaque at their new home, near to the freshly erected weathervane, in memory of the fallen crew. However, Helen became increasingly resolute that the crews’ descendants should be made aware of the find, carrying out huge amounts of research across the globe, eventually locating family descendants of each of the crew.
Helen’s story was reported by several national newspapers, drawing it to the attention of the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln. It contacted Helen, advocating that the weathervane should be dedicated as a formal war memorial, culminating in a unique event in Herefordshire attended by senior military officers, the Lord Lieutenant of the county representing HM Queen Elizabeth and the Royal British Legion but, most importantly, by many members of the crews’ family descendants.
In putting this story together, the author has had access to huge volumes of information from Helen, countless official records from military archives many original letters sent between crew members and their families during that turbulent time.
He examines how the Lancaster became the heavy bomber of choice for the RAF, the enormous, yet understated, role played by ground crews, the controversial Bombing of Berlin campaign, and what it’s like to fly in the famous “Lanc” today. He was truly humbled, in 2023, to find and interview a former Pathfinder Lancaster flight engineer, aged 99, in north Devon, who had served in the 83 Pathfinder Squadron at the same time as the JB453 crew and who was able to give very clear recollections about that time and what day-to-day life was like at RAF Wyton during both mission and non-mission days.
Locating the exact crash site in Germany was challenging. However, with the aid of a 1947 Air Ministry crash report and, remarkably, details from a original first edition 1943 military map that the author managed to procure, the site was definitively located at Timmenrode in the Harz mountains region of Germany. In the autumn of 2023, the author drove through Europe to meet a local archivist in the village. It was just a short drive from his home to the field where the aircraft has met its fate. The archivist was also able to provide an eyewitness journal account of the crash, another invaluable and unique piece of history.
This is indeed a remarkable and exceptional story.