On September 1st 1943 the Morpeth Herald carried an article headed simply Gosforth Pilot. 

The article was a report of a wartime bombing raid. After the bombs were dropped, crews reported smoke as billowing up to 12,000 feet. The resulting fires could be seen from more than a hundred miles away. The paper named the pilot as Sergeant E Mearis of Gosforth, and the plane he flew was a Lancaster bomber. During this mission, the article states, Sergeant Mearis and his flight crew were attacked twice by enemy fighters.

This flight was sergeant Mearis first operation. At twenty-three years of age Sgnt, Mearis joined the RAF after being in the searchlight battery. During this mission, the flight crew came under attack from below by an enemy fighter just as they began the bombing run.

“The Lancaster’s gunners held their fire until the fighter was well within range and then the fighter turned away and broke off the engagement.”

Sergeant Mearis brought the Lancaster back round and started the bombing re-run. The Lancaster discharged its bombs, and the plane once again came under attack from an enemy fighter.

Quote – mid-upper gunner “But I managed to get in a good burst, and it sheared off.”

September 1st 1943 Newcastle Evening Chronicle

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• Robert Whitfield Falconer (1885-1916) WW1
• Trooper Frank Bell & Mathew Bank Bombing WWII

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Gosforth Pilot

The article refers to E Mearis first mission with his crew he may have completed missions before as a co-pilot to gain experience. The plane Lancaster EE115 took off on August 30th at 0004 hours from Wood Hall Spa and landed at 0433 hours, the target was Monchengladbach. 

On September 3rd 1943 flying with a different crew, Lancaster EE115 crashed.

E Mearis flew only two more missions. On September 27th 1943, his flight to Hanover was abandoned due to icing problems.

On September 29th 1943, just twenty-nine days after the article appeared in the Morpeth Herald, E Mearis took off on what was to be his final flight.

That night the destination was Bochum a city in Western Germany. On his return, Pilot Mearis crossed the English coast without knowing his exact location. The cloud was low and made visibility difficult. Circling in low cloud at a low level he tried to try to work out his position. The aircraft lost height and at 0005 hours flew into high ground at Cadwell Hill five miles west of Mablethorpe. The Lancaster hit the ground and caught fire on impact. Sergeant Mearis was killed after just three sorties and one month after making his first solo RAF flight.

Hemswell Horrors (last verse)

"Who will return tomorrow?
For someone always dies,
Leaving a mother to sorrow
For the end of a son in the skies." 

Les Bucknall (no 150 sqn - 1945)

We now know that this particular Lancaster was an Avro Lancaster MKIII serial number ED983 built as part of a large order of aircraft built between November 1942 and June 1943.

There were seven thousand three hundred and seventy-seven Lancaster’s built during the war, and over half were lost. An archive exists that lists every one of these planes. Bruce Robertson a retired aviation historian published a list in his book Lancaster – The Story Of A Famous Bomber, published in 1964.

The Lancaster Sergeant Mearis piloted on the tragic night of September 29th is at the top of the excerpt below taken from that list. We can see that the following nine planes also crashed or where missing within a few weeks of delivery to various squadrons, giving a snapshot of the reality and danger that bombers crews faced.

Table of Lancaster Bombers And Their Outcome

Serial Number	Squadron Number	Delivery Date	Outcome
ED 983	619	May 1943	Crashed September 29th 1943 (Pilot Mearis)
ED 984	83	May 1943	Missing August 24th 1943
ED 985	460	May 1943	Lost (Hanover) October 18th 1943
ED 986	460	May 1943	Lost (Berlin) August 31st 1943
ED 987	101	May 1943	Lost June 13th 1943
ED 988	100	May 1943	Lost June 26th 1943
ED 989	56	May 1943	Lost August 18th 1943
ED 990	156	May 1943	Lost September 7th 1943
ED 991	100	May 1943	Lost November 19th 1943
ED 992	57	May 1943	Lost August 11th 1943

We have discovered that the initial E in the original news article stands for Eric. Eric Mearis lived at 36, Regent Road Gosforth and is buried at St Nicholas Church Cemetery. Eric’s story is not unusual many young pilots died during their first three missions of WWII.

Evening Chronicle 1st October 1943

Copyright Discovering Heritage

Johnny Boy (last verse)

Your name among the thousands,
Etched clear into the stone;
"Twixt other names and many lives,
Though I knew but yours alone.
Your memorial stands in tribute,
And I lament with saddened heart;
Do echo grief of other souls,
Who were, like us, to part.

John Roy Walsh (January 1986)

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PILOT OFFICER ERIC MEARIS

Service Number: 149942

Regiment & Unit/Ship

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 619 Sqdn.

Date of Death

Died 30 September 1943 Age 23 years old

Buried or commemorated at GOSFORTH (ST. NICHOLAS) CHURCHYARD

Sec. F. Grave 44.

United Kingdom

• Country of Service United Kingdom
• Additional Info Son of Arthur Herbert and Eleanor Jane Mearis, of Gosforth, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
• Personal Inscription

“NOTHING IN MY HAND I BRING SIMPLY TO THY CROSS I CLING”

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Discovering Heritage are a team of specialist historical researchers with interests in Family and House histories. We bring you this story as part of our mission to document the history of Gosforth in Newcastle Tyne and Wear and discover lost stories about its inhabitants.

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