Remembering…

This blog is all about remembering…

I have recently found your website concerning 23 Squadron and the De Havilland Mosquito. I’m very interested in finding out more about the activities of the squadron in the first few years of WW2 because my uncle, Sergeant Malcom Cook, flew as an observer/navigator with 23 Sqdn. I am proud to have his log book, covering his early training in 1941 to the final entry on 8th September 1942 flying Mosquito YP-U on an intruder mission.

Just below, the final entry says “Death Presumed 9/9/42”.

Do you have any information on the activities of the squadron around this time? I believe they were stationed at RAF Ford on the south coast but I have little further detail. Looking forward to finding out more!

Best regards

Jim.

To be continued on Sunday…

Last Mission: N.F.T. Last Trip With Gene

Robert Harris has shared almost all he had about his father.

This is the last comment Robert made.

Their last flight together was also on the 12th June starting at 16.05 and over by 16.25. The extract from the log book reads as follows: “N.F.T. Last trip with Gene”.

They flew for 20 minutes!

20 minutes… after 33 operations on a Mosquito most over Germany at night.

That’s the last thing Robert shared with me.

Keeping Jet Fighters Off Berlin?

This was in the draft section of my blog with two more articles. I was waiting to post them because Robert Harris had more to share with us. I have not had any more contact with Robert since last year. I have thus decided to post these as an homage to his father who was Eugene’s navigator for all the 33 operations they flew together as a team.

Post

You can’t make up such a story…

Found in R.C. Harris’ logbook.

KEPT JET FIGHTERS OFF BERLIN

Taken on this Facebook page.

From Lisa Sharp’s collection

On April 4, 1945, Gene and Dick flew a mission that lasted 5 hours and 50 minutes. WWII was not over yet and danger was always present over Germany even if you were flying a Mosquito.

Gene was flying YP-J. They were on an Intruder Patrol over Rechlin/Larz airfield and then over Burg airfield. Bombs were dropped on latter airfield and flash were seen. No activity seen at Rechlin/Larz.

I wish I had a picture of YP-J with Gene and Dick like I have one with George Stewart and Paul Beaudet.

January 1945 to May 1945

These were the operational sorties flown by Eugene Gagnon from January 1945 to May 1945.

Mike Thomas whose uncle was this pilot sent them in 2010.

I have inserted the logbook pages which were sent by R.C. Harris’ son last year. Some pages are still missing but you will get a good idea of what kind of missions Gagnon and Harris flew in 1945.

January 1945

February 1945

March 1945

On these two pages, entries are similar but are found twice. That’s when Eugene crashed his Mosquito after his mission to Elbe River.

April 1945 and May 1945

31 December 1944

This is the entry for the fifth mission.

It’s another Intruder mission, but after a 45 minute flight test with a Mosquito equipped with the new ASH radar seen here.

Logbook page…

This is the Mosquito flown by Flight Lieutenant Tony Marks with Ted Gosling as the navigator.

Eugene would have been flying on a similar type of Mosquito.

This is the scoreboard I posted before on the blog. Johnny Rivaz kept it as a souvenir after the squadron was disbanded.

Mission No. 5 is well documented.

If you have any information about 23 Squadron and you wish to share what you know, you can contact me using this form.

30 December 1944

This is the entry for mission 4.

R. C. Harris wrote the type of mission: Intruder.

The objective was circling around Guterslöhe airfield (Gütersloh) to attack Ju88 night-fighters stationed there which were coming back low on fuel and short of ammunition after attacking RAF heavies.

People can’t imagine the courage needed to fly alone in the dark of night over a German airfield on a cold night in December 1944 knowing that the Germans knew you were there circling the airfield like a spider waiting for its prey…

If you have any information about 23 Squadron and you wish to share what you know, you can contact me using this form.

December 1944

This is part of what was sent by someone who found my blog about 23 Squadron.

This person was related to this pilot.

He found what I had written about Flight Lieutenant Frank Thomas and he liked what he saw.

Click here if you want to see what he saw.

So he sent me Eugene Gagnon’s operational sorties when he was with 23 Squadron. It was the most precious information I had received. Then someone else found my blog.

Eugene Gagnon’s navigator’s son wrote me. He scanned almost all of his father’s logbook pages so I could post them here.

This is the first mission they did: the Freshman mission.

mission 1

mission 2

But the page with the entry for mission 3 is missing, as well as all the missions in January and February 1945.

Sometimes I think I am taken this story about a French-Canadian Mosquito pilot too seriously.

This is the next logbook page for entries about missions 4 and 5.

We will take a look at them later on the dates they were flown 69 years ago.

If you have any information about 23 Squadron and you wish to share what you know, you can contact me using this form.

Third Mission: December 12, 1944 Redux

69 years ago!

I am posting this article I wrote before once more.

This is what happened on December 12, 1944. The information is taken from the ORB of 23 Squadron.

I don’t have the logbook page to go with it. If I get it one day, I will add it here.

Flying Officer J.A.E. Gagnon and Flying Officer R.C. Harris took off at 17h56 for Twente, in Holland, probably to attack the airfield.

Twente. Unable to complete patrol owing to inability to pinpoint through rain storms and very thick haze. Visibility poor. Brought bombs back owing to lack of targets.

A fun ride… that lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes in rain and haze.

What more does the ORB has for December 12, 1944?

A fight between a pig and a dog!

It’s a pity we have no pictures…

If you have any information about 23 Squadron and you wish to share what you know, you can contact me using this form.

Second Mission: December 6, 1944 Redux Post

69 years ago today…

Updated 28 August 2023

This is what happened on December 6, 1944.

It could have been the last day in the lives of Eugene Gagnon and R.C. Harris. R.C. Harris wrote in his logbook what occured that day. They flew two times before their second mission over Dortmund-Ems Canal and Meppen in Germany.

No piece of cake mission!

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On December 6th, 1944 at 11h25, Eugene was flying an Anson.

R.C. Harris was acting as an instructor for Flight Sergeants Spender and Halliday, and Sergeant Boland. They were training on the A.S.H radar seen here on this picture of a Mosquito.

Few pictures exist of A.S.H. equipped Mosquitoes.

Eugene had flown a lot of planes in Canada and he was to fly St. Chris that day. the same plane George Stewart flew with his navigator Paul Beaudet on seven missions.

First to check the plane out for 15 minutes.

Then at 20h55, they took off for Germany where they were coned by 20 searchlights over Dortmund-Ems Canal.

This is St. Chris named after Saint Christopher.

George told me. He also told me something about this plane. Something few people know.

Mosquito Mk VI, PZ181, YP-E

George Stewart’s collection

Freshman Mission: December 5, 1944 Redux post

69 years ago!

This is what I wrote the first time I started writing this blog in 2010 about 23 Squadron.

Click here.

Now, with the help of Robert Harris, this is Eugene Gagnon’s and R.C. Harris’ first mission.

The first mission out of 33.

We have no pictures of that mission but we can easily imagine how they felt the first time on a cold day on December 5th, 1944 at the end of the runway of Little Snoring.

R.C. Harris was an experienced navigator and Eugene Gagnon had his wings since April 1942.

23 SQUADRON LITTLE SNORING 5 December 1944

17 h 55 YP-D MOSQUITO VI

F.O GAGNON NAVIGATOR

FRESHMAN INTRUDER.

BASE. HAISBORO. N. EGMOND. ENKHUIZEN KAMPEN. HARDERWIJK. HOORN. N. EGMOND. BASE.

ST. ELMO’S FIRE OVER ZUIDER ZEE

2 hours

R.C. Harris wrote it all in his logbook!

Freshman mission…

That’s what they called the first mission flown by 23 Squadron crews.

Usually this first mission was uneventful and not flown deep into Germany.

However every mission was dangerous. Taking off on a Mosquito had to be done with full power. George Stewart told me he was reaching a take-off speed of 130 mph because the lost of an engine would mean certain death.

33 take-offs and 33 landings. Landing was also tricky and high speed had to be maintained for the same reason as with take-offs.

George should know he flew 50 missions and he had a total of 1000 hours on Mosquitoes throughout his career first as a pilot then as an instructor with Nationalist Chinese pilots who had a hard time to learn how to fly the Mosquito.

George Stewart, 19 years old (1944)

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