Month: Dec 2025

Black Thursday: RAF Bomber Command raid on Berlin 16/17 Decemeber 1943.

On 16 December 1943 the crew of a Lancaster bomber from No.97 Squadron was hit by heavy flak over Berlin. Despite the aircraft being extensively damaged they managed to cross the North Sea but after arriving over England encounter heavy fog and the crew was unable to find their airfield in Lincolnshire.

FIDO (Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation)

FIDO

Due to zero visibility and running dangerously low on fuel their pilot, Flight Sergeant Ian MacDonald Scott RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force), decided to divert to RAF Gravely because the airfield was equipped with FIDO (Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation) which used intense heat to remove fog from the runway but the aircraft crashed just under two miles from Gravely and the crew were killed.

The raid on Berlin during the night of 16/17 December 1943 became known as ‘Black Thursday’ after Bomber Command lost 300 aircrew during a single operation. Two out of three airmen in the briefing room before the raid did not return; some were shot down over Germany, others crashed into the sea during their return to England.

The Lancaster crew who diverted to RAF Gravely during the night of 16 December 1943 who were killed:

Flt Sgt Ian MacDonald Scott, RAAF, aged 20. Pilot. From South Australia.

Flt Sgt Kenneth Edgar Foxcroft, RAAF, aged 20. Mid-upper gunner. Married.

Flt Sgt Douglas Raymond Irvine, RCAF, aged 31. Bomb Aimer. From Toronto.

Sgt Clifford Lionel Hope, RCAF, aged 27. Rear gunner. Also, from Canada.

Sgt Charles William Collishaw, RAFVR, aged 20. Flight engineer.

Sgt Sidney George Parrott, RAFVR, aged 20. Wireless operator and air gunner.

Flt Sgt Samuel Joseph Peek, RAFVR. Navigator.

Corporal Paul Edward Harman Intelligence Corps in Northern Ireland (Operation Banner)

Corporal Paul Edward Harman was killed during operation Banner (Northern Ireland) on 14 December 1977.

Paul was alone whilst driving an unmarked civilian vehicle along the Monagh Road in the Turf Lodge area, when he was stopped by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. As he attempted to escape, he was shot dead by the terrorists.

Paul, the son of a diplomat, was born in Ankara, Turkey on 15 April 1950. He originally joined the 16th/5th Lancers (regimental number: 24302090) and served in Cyprus during the Turkish invasion of the island. He transferred to the Intelligence Corps on 15 May 1975 (photograph of Squad 57 attached), and having been selected for special duties he was posted to Northern Ireland and was 27 years old on the day he died.

He was the only member the Corps to be killed in action during operations in Northern Ireland (Operation BANNER). In his memory, the trophy awarded to the winning team at the Corps’ annual football tournament was renamed the Harman Trophy.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

(Image: Paul on Exercise SNOW QUEEN 1975.)

Above text and images from the Intelligence Corps.