LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Russell Allen Pera JONES
Service No: 402967
Born: Mudgee NSW, 6 April 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 November 1940
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Breighton, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 460 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z 1391), France, 30 May 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Dreux Communal Cemetery, Eure-et-Loir, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frederick George and Mabel Harriet Jones, of Mendooran, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Mendooran NSW
Remembered: Panel 107, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Mendooran Honour Wall, Mendooran NSW
On 29th-30th May, when seventy-seven aircraft, including four Wellingtons of No. 460, were dispatched against the Gnome and Rhone, Thomson Houston, and Goodrich factories at Gennevilliers, a suburb of Paris. Weather was bad along the route, and although visibility over the target was good due to large breaks in the overcast, much heavier opposition was met from guns and searchlights. Consequently the general height of bomb release was between 8,000 feet and 4,000 feet with an appreciable loss of accuracy. In previous raids of this series only one aircraft had been lost by the entire attacking force on each occasion, but now six failed to return. Two Australian Wellingtons were shot down, a third failed to locate the target and returned to base, while Pilot Officer Brill (1) the only pilot from No. 460 known to attack, flew through heavy anti-aircraft fire during his approach. His bomb-release unit was damaged and this caused a 1,000-lb bomb to hang up, although the remaining bomb load fell. Brill had come down very low and inspected his aiming point from 1,500 feet before making this determined attack, undeterred by damage to his hydraulic system and the fact that his rear turret was out of action. The return journey was hazardous, for the weather remained severe, and the Wellington flew badly as the bomb doors could not be closed, but Brill successfully made a landing at an emergency airfield in England.
(1) Group Captain William Lloyd Brill DSO DFC & Bar (402933) was discharged from the RAAF on 12 October 1964.
Extract from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 Pages 309-10
Wellington Z 1391 took off from RAF Breighton at 2342 hours on the night of 29/30th
May 1942 to bomb Gennevilliers, France, a target near Paris. Nothing was heard from the
aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Four aircraft from the Squadron took
part in the raid.
The crew members of Z 1391 were:
Sergeant George Houghton (1166960) (RAFVR) (Front Gunner)
Flying Officer Russell Allen Pera Jones (402967) (Pilot)
Sergeant Godfrey Hugh Loder (404388) (Rear Gunner) PoW: Discharged from the RAAF: 18 November 1946
Sergeant Kenneth Reginald Mellowes (1167148) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Calton Hearn Younger (400320) (Observer) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 3 May 1946
In a statement by Sergeant Younger, he reported “the aircraft was at 200 feet. The starboard wing was set on fire by light flak. Orders to bale out were given to me verbally to me and on the emergency light signal to other crew members. The Front Gunner was also informed of the order by me. The Wireless Operator was in the astro dome and probably hit and incapacitated. I baled out. The aircraft crashed near the Gnome Rhone works. I was assisted by the French people. I hid during the day and walked at night. On the 8th day I was arrested by the French police as a suspicious character and handed over to the Germans. Loder also became a PoW”.
No. 460 Squadron lost Wellington Z1388 (Flight Lieutenant Thomas Harrison Bourke (407192) (Pilot)) on 29 May 1942.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/39/64
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985