LA100 - LZ999

Andy

These Mosquito (and Spitfire) recce squadrons (540 to 544) are interesting.
To whom did they belong?
Checking my book sources, it was not to any of the traditional ones, ie Bomber, Coastal and Fighter Commands.
Neither did they come under 2nd TAF or ADGB
Had they some special status and reported straight to RAF HQ or something?

With regard to this Mosquito loss I have no other sources at home to consult (I haven't checked the 'net yet) but can you please advise 
what sources you have consulted and since you use the word 'most', which sources actually state something else than the 18th?

Cheers
Stig
 

Thanks John

I checked my books again and sure enough I now located these units within
Coastal Command after all.
At the time of the loss, it seems they had all been transferred to No 106 Wing (one source actually says No 106 Group) 

Re-reading one book (not much actually said about PR-work in the first place), am I correct to interpret the situation that
it was Coastal Command which was responsible for all PR-work out of England and that the other Commands had to request
all their data from/through them? 

Cheers
Stig

That sounds very reasonable Andy.... (and thanks!) 

There is more than one site out there who is copying our books

Cheers
Stig

Wellington X LN870 is listed as being DBR in an accident, 30.6.44.
In fact, it was shot down on the night of 11/12 June whilst on a raid to Karlovo, Bulgaria. Some background on this.
I downloaded the Summary and Record of events for 70 Sqn in June 1944 (AIR-27-617-11 and AIR-27-617-12).
The summary records that 8 aircraft of the squadron were on the mission to Karlovo (mis-spelled as Karlova) of which two (L and E) returned early and one (U) was missing. The remaining five claimed to have bombed the target.
I then looked at the record of events, to find eight aircraft listed:
L MF421 (returned early)
E MF138 (returned early)
Z JA508
K LN985
H LP267 - this is listed twice, with its crew details, once at the bottom of one page, and once again at the top of the next
X JA520
W LP228
C LN699
As can be seen, there is absolutely no mention of an aircraft being lost in the record of events! I can only assume that whoever was typing the document mistakenly listed H LP267 twice, whilst omitting aircraft U. Aircraft U itself last appears in the ORB on the previous night, when the serial is confirmed as LN870.
So there appears to be a mistake in the summary (9 squadron aircraft went on the mission) and a mistake in the record (the lost aircraft is not mentioned at all).

Mosquito LR503 is shown as

109/105/Canada SOC 10.5.45 in Canada

It crashed at Calgary on that date after striking an obstacle during a low-level beat-up of the airfield. Both crew were killed.
The aircraft, which had the highest total of operational sorties of any Mosquito (213, so of any bomber?!), was in Canada as part of a Victory Loan bond drive. It was a 105 Sqn aircraft, with a 105 Sqn crew. Code was GB-F (Bar)
The record card:
lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-78s/Mosquito/LR496-LR585/0.html
says "on loan from 8 Group - on special Victory Tour of Canada"

Lots about this in "Mosquito Thunder - 105 Squadron RAF At War 1942-1945" (Stuart Scott, Sutton)