Date:	Friday 3 April 1942
Time:
Type:	Vickers Wellington Mk IC
Owner/operator:	150 Sqn RAF
Registration:	X9814
MSN:	JN-O
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Villacoublay, Yvelines 78 -   France
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Snaith
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Shot down by flak on the way to the target.Crashed at Villacoublay Paris.

Crew:-
Pilot:45440 Plt Off Ralph Hurbert Powell - Les Gonards Communal Cemetery Versailles Row 5. Coll. grave 31-34 (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 21 April, 1942)
Pilot: 16212 Gp Capt Eric Bingham Webb - Les Gonards Communal Cemetery Versailles Row 5. Coll. grave 31-34.
Observer:364767 WO James William Duly Sykes - Les Gonards Communal Cemetery Versailles Row 4. Grave 34.
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner: 922210 Sgt Bernard Shepherd - Les Gonards Communal Cemetery Versailles Row 5. Coll. grave 31-34.
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner: 1359903 Sgt ALBERT HENRY DICKEBUSCH Barton - Les Gonards Communal Cemetery Versailles Row 5. Coll. grave 31-34.
Air Gunner: Sgt Christopher W Maltby PoW Stalag Luft 3 Sagan & Belaria. PoW Number 25641. He was rescued from the burning aircraft by Mr Albert Guerbet.

The site of the crash is marked by a small memorial. This also states that Christopher Maltby died in 1998, aged eighty-six. See source 4. below for more details including the memorial’s exact location.

A rededicaton event was held in May 2003. A very informative commemorative booklet (in French), detailing the crash and M. Guerbet’s various citations for bravery is online. See source 5.

M. Guerbet died on 10 December 1991.

The target was Poissy, an area to the west of Paris that housed a large rail marshalling yard as well as a Ford automobile manufacturing plant which had been annexed by the Germans to make war materials.

The official Casualty Pack (a Caualty Branch file detailing particulars about the crew, their next of kin and what is known about the incident) for this event is available to view in person at the National Archives at Kew, England with a valid Reader’s Ticket. Please see source 6. for further details.

1. CWGC
2. Bomber Command Losses 1942
3. French Crashes 39-45. See link https://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=1993
4. https://www.aerosteles.net/stelefr-andresy-raf
5. http://unc.andresy.free.fr/brochures/unc%201942.pdf
6. UK National Archives reference Air 81/13127. For more information see https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17083877
7. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Nov-2017 16:03	Red Dragon	Added
31-Oct-2018 14:00	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Operator]
02-Apr-2024 12:00	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative]