Hi there,
I don't know whether anyone has got back to you with details on your man and his crew from the 103 Squadron Operational Record Books,but this is what I have found.I have recently made a nominal index of all aircrew who served with 103 Squadron and are mentioned in the O.R.B.s,so hopefully this will be a fairly full account.
Posting details are not very full in the O.R.B.s-only officers are mentioned and then not all and with no service numbers-so it is hard to be definitive about when N.C.O.s were posted in and whether they were originally posted in with the crews that they flew with operationally.
Bearing that in mind,it seems likely that the McArthur crew,with whom your man flew,was posted in 10/11/44,the posting-in date given for the only officer member of the crew F/O.Lougheed-W/O.McArthur was commissioned 16/12/44.W/O.McArthur flew his second pilot sortie on 11-12/1/44 and then took his own crew on their first sortie 18-19/11/44 on Wanne Eickel.The crew were lost on their twelfth sortie.
Your man,who appears at times with the initials D.P.,flew on only eight of these sorties.No reason is given for his absences.
If you would like a full list of his sorties,please let me know.
Hope this is of interest,
Regards,Mark Simpson.
