Jesse Dallen and crew of Lancaster ME814
The crew of Lancaster Bomber ME814 took part in a major air raid in mid-July 1944.
It involved more than two hundred aircraft and was designed to cause chaos behind enemy lines, hundreds of miles from the Normandy Battlefield.
The young men killed in the crash of Lancaster Bomber ME814 were:
20 year old Pilot Officer Jesse Gray Dallen; 19 year old Sergeant William Shaw, Flight Engineer; 20 year old Sergeant Francis Bertram Smith, Air Gunner; 25 year old Sergeant Douglas Wensley, Air Gunner; 23 year old Albert John Williamson, Navigator; and Sergeant Bertie Woodward, the Wireless Operator, who was 32.
Here is an photograph of their graves showing the original grave markers.
Author, broadcaster and former RAF Navigator John Nichol explains what happened to the crew of ME814 in this short video.
FALLEN HEROES
JESSE GRAY DALLEN
Royal Air Force • FLYING OFFICER
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
207 Squadron, Royal Air ForceDIED 19 July 1944
AGE 20
SERVICE NO. 174550
WILLIAM SHAW
Royal Air Force • SERGEANT
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
207 Squadron, Royal Air ForceDIED 19 July 1944
AGE 19
SERVICE NO. 1823003
FRANCIS BERTRAM SMITH
Royal Air Force • SERGEANT
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
207 Squadron, Royal Air ForceDIED 19 July 1944
AGE 20
SERVICE NO. 1584152
DOUGLAS WENSLEY
Royal Air Force • SERGEANT
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
207 Squadron, Royal Air ForceDIED 19 July 1944
AGE 25
SERVICE NO. 1592743
BERTIE WOODWARD
Royal Air Force • SERGEANT
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
207 Squadron, Royal Air ForceDIED 19 July 1944
AGE 32
SERVICE NO. 1510808
ALBERT JOHN WILLIAMSON
Royal Air Force • PILOT OFFICER
Royal Canadian Air Force
207 Squadron, Royal Air ForceDIED 19 July 1944
AGE 23
SERVICE NO. J/88424
