Dakota Mk III FZ655

 

Dakota III FZ655 of 437 RCAF ‘Husky’ Squadron was lost on the 24th October 1944

 

The aircraft crashed near St Pol-sur-Mer, a suburb of Dunkirk, during a cargo flight from Antwerp (airfield B70) to Blakehill.   This aircraft was one of nine Dakotas tasked with the delivery of 57000lbs of freight and ammunition.

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The circumstances of the loss are unclear, other than the freight delivery was successful and on the return flight, Flying Nightingale LACW Margaret Campbell WAAF 2041818 was flying aboard, along with F/Sgt Douglas Otto SCHNEIDER, F/Sgt Sydney Alfred GUMBRELL and W/O II John Herman SOPER.

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Co-Pilot Flight Sergeant J W Lockwood survived.

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Mercifully the aircraft was carrying no returning wounded – all are buried in Calais Canadian War Cemetery.