William Leslie James                                                                             Updated: 24 NOV 2021

Airman: e777822.htm Surname: James Init: W L Rank: Sgt Service: RAF Sqdn: 153

P_link: p464.htm Plane: LAN LM750 Operation: Minelaying Crash_site: The Kattegat

Crash_d: d030345 Buried_d: e777 C_link: e777.htm At_Next: NO KNOWN

Sergeant William Leslie James, 23 år, var søn af Alan Maxwell James og Alice James, Stratford-on-Avon, United Kingdom.
Hans navn er på Panel 275 på the Runnymede Memorial blandt mere end 20.000 navne på flyvere, der ikke har en kendt grav. (Kilde: CWGC)

Den 3. marts 1945 styrtede LAN LM750 i Kattegat omkring her. Flyvehistorisk Tidsskrift skriver:

3.-4. marts 1945 (Kl. 20.29). Sejerøbugten vest for Gniben. Lancaster B.III LM750 (P4- ). 153 BS, 1 BG, Scampton, Lincs. (Minering i Kattegat) 7 MIA.

31 Lancasters kastede miner i Oslo Fjord og i Kattegat. LM750 blev skudt ned af en Ju88 fra I/NJG3 på Grove (her) og styrtede i havet vest for Gniben.
Der er ikke fundet spor af besætningen, men svømmedykkere har nyligt fundet spredte vragrester i området.
Se Minelægningsområder og Lancaster fotos. 7 flyvere.

Sergeant William Leslie James, 23, was the son of Alan Maxwell James and Alice James, of Stratford-on-Avon, United Kingdom.
He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 275, among more than 20,000 airmen who have no known grave. (Source: CWGC)
He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 1, Panel 54.      

On 3 March 1945 LAN LM750 crashed into the Kattegat about here. (Danish) Aviation Historical Review writes:

3 - 4 March 1945 (at 20.29 hours). The Sejerø Bay west of Gniben. Lancaster B.III LM750 (P4- ). 153 BS, 1 BG, Scampton, Lincs. (Minelaying in the Kattegat) 7 MIA.
31 Lancasters laid mines in the Oslo Fjord and in the Kattegat. LM750 was shot down by a Ju88 from I/NJG3 at Grove (here) and crashed into the sea
west of Gniben. No trace of the crew has been found, but recently Scuba divers found scattered pieces of wreckage in the area. See Minelaying areas.

See No. 153 Squadron RAF - Wikipedia * 153 Squadron Association *  RAF Scampton Station homepage and RAF Scampton at RAF-Lincolnshire.info.
Lancaster * Lancaster Photos.
Lancaster III LM750 P4-R took off from RAF Scampton at 16:45 on 03 MAR 1945. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this and Archive Report.) 7 airmen.