His final mission

• JOHN Gulliver asks for information on Flying Officer Harold Gilleland, a St Pancras airman killed in action in 1942 (Mission to research war hero, January 7). I can’t help with his family background, but Bomber Command Losses Vol 3 by WR Chorley, and the Bomber Command War Diaries by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, give details of his last flight.
 Gilleland was the rear gunner aboard Lancaster W4266 of 50 Squadron, based at Skellingthorpe, Lincs. On the night of  17 December 1942, during a minor operation against Soltau, one of eight bad-weather harassment raids that night, W4266 was brought down by a combination of flak and night-fighter attack over Holland and crashed, 4km north-east of Zwolle, at 2110. Four of the crew including Gilleland are buried in Zwollerkerstel cemetery.
With F/O Gilleland’s service number and squadron number, a researcher could probably find out more about his service record at the National Archives in Kew.
Curiously, the target  of W4266’s mission, Soltau, is the location of Becklingen War Cemetery, where a member of my own family, Wing Commander Lawrence Petley, killed in 1941, is buried with his crew.
HUGO BARNICLE
Croftdown Road, NW5