Crew: Shnier

ShnierCREW
Pilot:  P/O Clifford Shnier
Flight Engineer: Alfred Norman Gibbons
Navigator: F/O Geoffrey John Howersham
Bomb Aimer: F/O Paul De Villiers
W/Op: Sgt Peter Charles Evans
Mid-Upper Gunner: P/O Benjamin Gabriel Knoesen
Rear gunner: Sgt Donald Edward Croft

LANCASTER – EE172 OF-0
Shot down by a night fighter on 30th July 1943; the entire crew was killed.

 

DETAILS
Shnier was the only Canadian or foreign national on the crew. Despite his very unusual name, Knoesen was a British subject.
For a most interesting website page on Clifford Shnier, set up by his family, go to this link: http://clifford.shniers.com/ 

From the ORB
29/30 July 1943 Hamburg – Bomb Load 6 x TI, 1 x 4000lb, 3 x 1000lb unless stated
EE172O  P/O C.Shnier, Sgt A.H.Gibbons, P/O Homersham(?), P/O P.de Villiers, Sgt P.Evans, F/Sgt B.Knoesen, Sgt D.E.Croft.  Up 2246 – aircraft and crew missing.
 

Extract from Bomber Command Losses – 29/30.7.43
Lancaster III  EE172  OF – O.  Op Hamburg.  T/O Bourn.  Shot down by a night fighter.  All are buried in Becklingen War Cemetery.
P/O C.Shnier RCAF(+), Sgt A.N.Gibbons(+), P/O G.J.Homersham(+), F/O P.De Villiers(+), Sgt P.C.Evans(+), F/S B.G.Knoesen(+), Sgt D.E.Croft(+).
(Crew on 28th op – Martin Middlebrook “The Battle of Hamburg”)