| Flight
Sergeant Stan Boulton
was serving as
Mid Upper Gunner aboard Lancaster Mk. III
ND-597 coded TL-A
during an operation to Berlin March 24/25, 1944.
The aircraft took off from Graveley at 1844hrs and was returning
to base when it was shot down by a night-fighter, killing five of
the seven crewmembers.
F/Sgt Boulton was thrown
clear of the aircraft when it exploded and made it safely to the
ground, where he was taken prisoner.
He
was to spend the rest of the war in Camp Stalag 357 Kopernikus as
number 339.
After two escape attempts he was taken to Stalag Luft 1V at
Riga/Lithuania. At the end of the war he was transferred by train to
Stalag 357 at Thorn and then Fallingbostel near Hanover. He and the
other prisoners were marched out of there, only to be mistaken for
German Infantry and attacked from the air by the RAF.
During the subsequent commotion, he again escaped eventually
reaching British Army lines where his party were again mistaken for
Germans and fired at. He was wounded before finally reaching safety.
He and the bomb aimer, Flight Lieutenant Muego were the only
survivors of the crew and both
became
members of the Caterpillar Club.
The
crew consisted of:
|
Name |
Service |
Trade |
Hometown |
Age |
|
S/L Richard Fitzgerald (DFC) |
RAAF |
Pilot |
Namban,W.Australia |
22 |
|
F/O Cecil Dineen |
RAFVR |
Flight Engineer |
Bexleyheath,Kent |
20 |
|
F/O John Savage |
RAAF |
Navigator |
Queensland, Australia |
27 |
|
F/Lt William “Scott” Muego - POW |
RAFVR |
Bomb Aimer |
Glasgow, Scotland |
29 |
|
W/O Robert Brewington |
RAAF |
Wop/AG |
Queensland, Australia |
27 |
|
F/Sgt Frederick Smith |
RAFVR |
Rear Gunner |
Cobridge,Stoke-on-Trent |
30 |
|
