It was decided that that the crew relationship and morale was not ideal so it would be better to separate us and start afresh. In some notes that Les Cornelius wrote in 1998 he observes (the initial paragraph refers to his first crew at 16 OTU - refer ): What were the call signs and serial numbers of the two lost aircraft? What was the serial number of Lancaster Mk3 'Kamloops Special', WP-A in A flight?ģ. Can anyone explain this WP-A triple identification mystery?Ģ. I have no doubt that the unfortunate crews were killed, but I am confused as to what aircraft they were in.ġ. I note a Lancaster Mk3 HK605 WP-A of 90 squadron is purported to have been lost on a Keil night raid on 26 August 1944 ( refer and an aircaft with the same call sign and serial number was also purported lost on 12 September 1944 raid on Frankfurt (refer: ). However, WP-A 'Kamloops Special' was damaged by flak on a number of occasions (12 July 44 - rear turret & starboard mainplane holed, 3 Oct 44 - starboard tailplane, 7 Oct 44 - heavy flak damage) and, dependening on the status of running repairs, it could have been scrapped shortly after their tour of ops. WP-A 'Kamloops Special' along with the all crew (see photo at ) survived their tour of ops in 90 squadron from 5 July 1944 to 14 October 1944. My father, Leslie 'Les' Cornelius (1921-2004), RAFVR was a navigator in 90 Squadron RAF, A Flight, chiefly in Lancaster Mk3 WP-A 'Kamloops Special' but on occasions, in other Lancaster aircraft in 1944 (eg.WP-G 5 & 24 July, WP-L 10 July, WP-D 17 July, WP-B 20 July & 9 Aug 44, WP-H 8 Aug, WP-F 16 Aug, WP-C 7 Oct).

Avro lancaster serial numbers