Dedication
The Crew of KB751
In memory of Robert Emmett Toomey
September 3, 1918 – June 18, 1974
and his RCAF crewmates who perished in the early hours of August 17, 1944
From left: Harry Slater, William Lamb, Leonard Brown, Joseph Ralph (Gordon) Srigley, Robert R. Boyce, Robert E. Toomey, unknown spare pilot. The pilot of this crew was William C. Fairgrieve.
Photo may have been taken at the 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit in Wombleton where crews were trained on the Halifax or Lancaster aircraft before being assigned to a squadron.
Of 125,000 aircrew in RAF Bomber Command, 55,573 were killed. This casualty rate of 44.4 percent was the highest of any allied military unit. A further 8,403 men were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war. This website pays tribute to their courage, strength and dedication.
Sgt. Robert E. Toomey of 428 Ghost Squadron was the only survivor of his crew when the Lancaster Avro aircraft, coded KB751 NA-Q was attacked by a German night fighter off the coast of Denmark and crashed into the sea. They were returning from their fifth operation, a raid on the ports of Stettin. Toomey was captured on the island Sejero and sent to Stalag Luft VII.
Toomey's crewmates, pictured below, all perished August 17th, 1944.
All perished August 17, 1944 returning from a raid on the port of Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland).Robert E. Toomey (Flt. Eng.) was only survivor.
See: Crash into the Sea and Capture in Denmark
See Photo Album for more photos and personal details of each crew member.
Photos and personal details of Toomey's fellow prisoners of war at Stalag Luft 7 and Stalag 3A are provided in the Scrapbook section.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
- Robert Laurence Binyon -
