Flight Lieutenant E J Presland , DFC

Flight Lieutenant Presland was posted to 576 Squadron at Elsham Wolds in March 1944 from 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit at Faldingworth. On his arrival he took over the crew of A Flight Commander Squadron Leader D D Haig DFC and bar, who had been promoted to command 625 Squadron at Kelstern.

The crew consisted of :

Sgt A W Knapp RAF

Flying Officer C Ashcroft RAF

Flying Officer M L Abramson RCAF

Sgt B J Hudson RAF

Sgt R E Leatham RAF

Sgt A G Wright DFM RAF

They had flown 3 tough operations, to Berlin, Leipzig and Schweinfurt, with Squadron Leader Haig . On the Leipzig operation, on the night of the 19/20th February 1944, their Lancaster had been subjected to five separate attacks by night fighters which were beaten off by return fire from the gunners, Sgt Leatham and Sgt Wright. One enemy aircraft was claimed as destroyed and one damaged and Sgt Wright was awarded the DFM for his part in this action.

In addition Flying Officer Ashcroft, Flying Officer Abramson, Sgt Leatham and Sgt Wright had all flown one operation each with other crews.

After a period of training with their new pilot they commenced operations on the night of the 10/11th April 1944 when they took part in a raid on the railway yards at Aulnoye. On their second operation on the next night they took part in an attack on Aachen during which they were attacked by a Ju 88 night fighter. The gunners returned fire scoring hits and the enemy aircraft was claimed as damaged. Flight Lieutenant Presland and his crew were uninjured and the Lancaster was not damaged in the incident.

During the rest of the month they flew seven more raids against German and French targets.

After a break from operations at the start of May they flew a mining operation to the Heligoland Bight on the night of the 12/13th May which was completed successfully.

Their final operation took place on the night of the 15/16th May 1944 which was another mining sortie, this time to Keil Bay. For this operation the crew was made up to 8 with the inclusion of Pilot Officer A E Slade RAF who had been posted to 576 Squadron earlier that month and was going on the operation as second pilot to gain some operational experience before flying with his own crew.

Flight Lieutenant Presland and crew took off from Elsham Wolds in Lancaster ME726 at 22:08. They did not return and were one of three aircraft shot down in the area of Denmark that night. Flight Lieutenant Presland and crew were the victim of a night fighter attack and crashed at 01:35 local time on the outskirts of the village of Gamtofte near Assens on the island of Fyn, Denmark.

The tail of the Lancaster broke off on impact and the rest of the aircraft ended up in a garden adjacent to two farmhouses.The wreckage caught fire which destroyed the two farmhouses. After 2 minutes one of the mines carried by the Lancaster exploded severely damaging six houses and a church nearby. Sadly there were no survivors from the crew and their remains were all buried at Assens ( Fyn ) New Cemetery. The local people erected a memorial to this gallant crew at the site of the crash.

We are grateful to Peter Lund of Denmark for the photograph and some of the information used in this item.

The tail section of Flight Lieutenant Presland's Lancaster bomber after being shot down on the night of the 15th/16th May 1944.

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