Geoffrey Wellsman "D-Day Decoy"

GEOFFREY ROGERS WELLSMAN

Service Number: 173130

Pilot Officer Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 42 O.T.U.

Died 06 June 1944 age 20

Runnymede Memorial Panel 213.

Son of Edgar S. M. and Dorothy W. Wellsman, of 25 Swan Lane, Whetstone, Middlesex.

Wellsman served as a Navigator/Bombardier in the Royal Air Force, a crucial role that involved plotting aircraft courses and coordinating bombing operations. His service with the 42 Operational Training Unit suggests that he had completed basic training and was undergoing specialised operational training before being potentially deployed to an active combat squadron. The London Gazette from May 23, 1944, contains a notification regarding Wellsman, related to his commission as a Pilot Officer. This commission would have been awarded approximately two weeks before his final mission.

On the night of June 5-6, 1944 – the eve of D-Day – Pilot Officer Wellsman was aboard Albemarle I, serial number P1442, on a mission with 42 OTU. The timing of this flight is particularly significant, as it coincided with the commencement of Operation Overlord, which supported the D-Day landings.

The mission was designed to deceive German forces about the intended direction of the main British airborne assault. P1442 was part of the first flight of six decoy aircraft that took off on D-Day. These aircraft initially flew alongside troop-carrying aircraft but then separated at a designated turning point (49°59′n, 00°30′w) at 00:25 hours. While the troop carriers turned toward their drop zones near the River Orne, the decoy aircraft continued southeast, crossing the French coast between Cap d'Antifer and Frecamp.

The aircraft were tasked with dropping "window" (radar-confusing strips of metal foil) from 60 miles off the French coast, creating false radar signatures that would deceive German defenders about the location and direction of the main airborne assault.

Unlike other aircraft incidents where crash sites were found, P1442 appears to have vanished "without a trace," suggesting it may have crashed into the English Channel.