MOBBERLEY Eric Desmond

Eric Mobberley was born on 17th April 1923, the youngest of 5 children – four boys and a girl.  He attended Stambermill School until the age of eight.  He entered Lyttleton House, Old Swinford Hospital on 24th January 1933 and left at the age of 16, commencing work at the M.E.B. offices at Mucklow Hill, Halesowen.  When he was conscripted into the forces, he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and after training as a navigator in Northern Ireland in 1943 he returned to England where he became a crew member on Lancaster bombers.

Source for additional information: Old Foleyans Remembered Casualties of WW II published by the Old Foleyans Association, October 1996.

At 1639 on 8th February 1945 Avro Lancaster NG385 of 50 Squadron took off from RAF Skellingthorpe to take part in the first wave attack on a synthetic oil production plant.  The aircraft came down in shallow water near Wollin off the coast of Poland.  Eric Mobberely baled out but was injured in the process.  He died shortly afterwards and was buried in Poland.  Four of his fellow crew members were killed when the aircraft crashed: Flight Sergeant J. Maltby, Pilot Officer B. Martin, Flight Sergeant A.E. Whitams and Flight Sergeant L.B. Waller.  Although their bodies were initially recovered, their burial place has never been found and they are commemorated on Runnymede Memorial in England.  The two remaining crew members, Pilot Officer T.H. Hewett and Sergeant R.A. Murray, were injured and taken to hospital where they remained as prisoners of war until they were liberated by the allied forces.

The above information on Lancaster NG385 was taken from a website that is no longer online.