Raymond Wesley Dreyer                                                                  Updated: 04 MAR 2021

Airman: e777337.htm Surname: Dreyer Init: R W Rank: Sgt Service: RCAF Sqdn: 408

P_link: p077.htm Plane: HAM AT224 Operation: Minelaying Crash_site: Sea SW of Samsø

Crash_d: d150542 Buried_d: e777 C_link: e777.htm At_Next: NO KNOWN

Natten 15.-16. maj 1942 kl. 02.00 styrtede HAM AT224 i havet sydvest for Samsø, måske omkring  her. Flyvehistorisk Tidsskrift skriver:
"Hampden mk. 1. AT224 (EQ-). 408 BS, 5 BG, Balderton, Notts. (Minering: »Pumpkin« i Store Bælt). 2 MIA og 2 KIA. Se Minelægningsområder.

Denne nat var en forholdsvis rolig nat for RAF. Den eneste operation var 50 fly, der foretog minering i den vestlige del af Østersøen. Operationen var et led i
englændernes forsøg på at forhindre de store tyske krigsskibe »Lutzow« og »Prinz Eugen« i gennemsejling til og fra Norge. To Hampdens og to Wellingtons
gik tabt. På hjemturen blev AT224 ramt af flak fra en tysk minestryger, der befandt sig sydvest for Samsø. Flyet eksploderede i luften og styrtede derefter
brændende ned i farvandet Ø-NØ for Endelave (måske omkring her). - - " (FT 90-46-4) Se p077MACR.

Flight Sergeant Raymond Wesley Dreyer var fra Canada.
Hans navn er på Panel 103 på the Runnymede Memorial blandt mere end 20.000 navne på flyvere, der ikke har en kendt grav. (Kilde: CWGC) 4 flyvere.

In the night 15.-16. May 1942 at 02.00 hours HAM AT224 crashed into the sea south west of Samsø, maybe about here. See p077MACR.
(Danish) Aviation Historical Review writes:
"Hampden I. AT224 (EQ-). 408 BS, 5 BG, Balderton, Notts. (Minelaying: »Pumpkin« in the Store Bælt). 2 MIA and 2 KIA. See Minelaying areas.

This was a rather quiet night for the RAF. The only operation was 50 planes that carried out a minelaying operation in the western part of the Baltic Sea.
The operation was a part of the British attempt to prevent the big German naval ships "Lutzow" and "Prinz Eugen" from sailing to and from Norway.
2 Hampdens and 2 Wellingtons were lost. On the return flight AT224 was hit by flak from a German mine sweeper on a position south west of Samsø.
The plane exploded in the air and crashed, burning, into the waters E-NE of Endelave (maybe about here). - - " (FT 90-46-4)

Flight Sergeant Raymond Wesley Dreyer was from Canada. His name is engraved on the Memorial Wall at the BC Museum of Canada.
He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 103, among more than 20,000 airmen who have no known grave. (Source: CWGC)
The Canadian Virtual War Memorial has this.  He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 1, Panel 30.

See No. 6 Group and the Canadian Squadrons * No. 408 (Goose) Squadron RCAF * 408 "Goose" Squadron Association.
Hampden I AT224 EQ- took off from RAF Balderton on 15 MAY 1942    (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.)
4 airmen.