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Date: | Sunday 31 May 1942 |
Time: | 01:48 LT |
Type: | Handley Page Halifax Mk II |
Owner/operator: | 405 (Vancouver) Sqn RCAF |
Registration: | W7707 |
MSN: | LQ-E |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Niederaußem, Bergheim, Nordrhein-Westfalen -
Germany
|
Phase: | Combat |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Pocklington |
Destination airport: | |
Narrative:Operation - first 1000 bomber raid with target Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen.
The aircraft was shot down by the night fighter crew of Leutnant Brinkhaus & Unteroffizier Keil of the 4./NJG 1, who were flying a Bf 110 E-1 from St Trond (Sint-Truiden) airfield in Belgium.
The Halifax exploded in a huge ball of fire over Niederaußem. A witness on the ground reported that some 1,000 small fragments were found 200 metres outside of the village. The only large parts found were three propellers. The seven-man crew are all missing in action:
Crew:-
R/76357 Sgt Leonard Alfred Wadman RCAF - Runnymede Memorial Panel 107.
810144 Sgt Norman Acton - Runnymede Memorial Panel 77.
R/62398 Flt Sgt Gerald Arthur Welsh RCAF - Runnymede Memorial Panel 107.
119523 Plt Off George Edmund Sankey - Runnymede Memorial Panel 71 (NCO:1168609 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 05 May, 1942)
NZ404616 Sgt Andrew Fraser McLean RNZAF - Runnymede Memorial Panel 117.
R/98484 Sgt Warren Bryan Pickett RCAF - Runnymede Memorial Panel 107.
917785 Sgt Douglas Henning - Runnymede Memorial Panel 85
Sources:
Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part three
Google Maps
CWGC
Bomber Command Losses 1942
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
17 September 1942 |
W7770 |
405 (Vancouver) Sqn RCAF |
5 |
Maubeuge landing ground in the département du Nord |
|
w/o |
3 August 1943 |
HR849 |
405 (Vancouver) Sqn RCAF |
7 |
between Wummensiede (Bremen) - St Jürgen (Lilienthal, Niedersachsen) |
|
w/o |
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
04-Jan-2018 17:36 |
Red Dragon |
Added |
13-Oct-2018 16:50 |
stehlik49 |
Updated [Location, Destination airport] |
14-Oct-2018 12:45 |
Nepa |
Updated [Operator, Operator] |
21-Apr-2020 09:11 |
TigerTimon |
Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
23-Nov-2023 12:46 |
Rob Davis |
Updated [Source, Narrative] |