Many thanks to Dunc for adding my summaries to the “Crew List” section, containing the incomplete information we have on our two gunners; Williams and David….We remain hopeful for contact with family members of these two airmen to help complete our story, also added (to the “Other Memoirs” section) is information on F/O David’s brother lost in a 7 Sqdn Lanc’ and a summary of our rear gunner’s return from Stalag Luft I (Barth)…..The project continues….

Things are quiet at the moment, got a few photos and details to add shortly but no major developments. However, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my Uncle Jim….AKA W/O James “Snowdrop” Southworth DFM, a two tour A/G ex of 78 and 103 Sqdns respectively. A West Lancashire lad born and bred, he was laid to rest this week in his beloved Cornwall after a full and remarkable life aged 92, a sad but proud day.

…Duncan has added a piece I wrote for a local magazine in the “Other Memoirs” section on the drop-down menu…..”The “Airmen of Newburgh” is not LM658 related but is the story of four men from a small Lancashire village, three of whom lost their lives on Lancs….worth a read! We are also planning a page of relevant links to other sites…watch this space!

Duncan and Alan would like to wish all of our contributors and site followers good health and happiness for the Christmas season and for the coming year. With your invaluable help, we have made great progress on the LM658 story during 2012…..let’s see what 2013 brings!….Best wishes and thanks to you all.

Many thanks to webmaster Duncan for adding the updates to the Ramsden, Downie and Paston- Williams crew biographies. Also added is the hardest and most considered thing I have ever had to write, the chain of events that happened in the air on that fateful night, which can be found inserted into THE HOOD STORY section. Thanks to all contributors involved! (see ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS section).

A remarkable and exciting contact has landed in my inbox from medal collector Mr Richard Jones, not only has he furnished us with photos of flight engineer John Downie’s medal collection (of which he is custodian), but also with documentary evidence of information regarding the chain of events during LM 658’s fateful op!…Hence, I am working on a re-write of a key part of the story….watch this space….

Delighted that Mrs Anne Merritt has got in touch with us, Anne is the daughter of LM 658’s bomb aimer P/O Benjamin Ramsden and was still only a baby when her father was lost….as a result, we are currently preparing the mini-biography of “Benny” as he was known to all (including some excellent photos) which will appear shortly, taking it’s rightful it’s place alongside those of his crewmates!

Check out the Post on the guestbook from Jill (Wright) Fraas, seeking information about her Dad who was a Lancaster rear gunner, once shot down over the Firth of Forth.

If anybody has any information then please let us know!

Following my approach to the senior features editor of “The Hamilton Spectator” newspaper in Ontario Canada, hometown of our rear gunner: F/O Bruce Arnold David, we have been put in touch with a local RCAF veterans organisation who have agreed to help try and make contact with anyone who knows/knew F/O David post war…Watch this space!!!….

As an aside…

Did you know we get about 1500 –  2000 attempts every month to spam our guestbook or commentable pages with junk links to rubbish sites?

But we catch ’em all!

It’s an interesting example of how the bad side of the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation, the art of helping websites rise up the search rankings) industry operates. Ethical SEO is much better for building long lasting benefit and provides value all round – but then as an SEO bod, I would say that wouldn’t I?? 🙂

(Ooops, went off on a rant there – prompted by binning a junk comment that made it through the first line of defence, a ‘pharmaceutical’ related site…)