Date:	Friday 12 July 1940
Time:	night
Type:	Vickers Wellington Mk IC
Owner/operator:	149 (East India) Sqn RAF
Registration:	L7805
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Fallende, near Rhede, Borken, North Rhine-Westphalia -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk

Narrative:
Vickers Wellington Mk.Ic L7805, 149 Sqaudron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over Germany. All six crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1100): "Wellington L7805 crashed at Fallende near Rhede, Germany, 12 July 1940. Pilot Officer C W Howie, Pilot Officer J S Torgalson, Pilot Officer J A Rose, Sergeant J W Craig, Sergeant T C Suggett and Sergeant J V Futcher: report of deaths"

Airborne at 21:50 on 11 July 1940 for mission to Bremen to bomb naval installations. Exact cause of loss & crash site location unknown. One source states crashed into the North Sea en route to or from the target. All six crew MIA/KIA

Crew:
P/O Joseph Simon Torgalson (pilot) RAF 42732 - killed in action 12/07/1940 (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 03 October, 1939)
P/O John Alexander Rose (pilot) RAF 42887 - killed in action 12/07/1940 (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 07 November, 1939)
Sgt John William Craig (Observer) RAFVR 743022 - killed in action 12/07/1940.
Sgt John Vernon Futcher (WOp/AG) RAF 641321 - killed in action 12/07/1940.
Sgt Charles Suggett (WOp/AG) RAF 644680 - killed in action 12/07/1940.
P/O Charles William Howie (Air Gunner) RAFVR 77937 - killed in action 12/07/1940 (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 25 June, 1940)

All of the above were interred in the Rechswald Forest War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Pilot Officer Howie is also commemorated in a panel of one of the stained glass windows in the Cloisters at Chester Cathedral

The reported crash location of Fallende, near Rhede is a municipality in the district of Borken in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the border with the Netherlands, approximately 5 km east of Bocholt, at approximate Coordinates: 51°50′00″N 06°42′02″E

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1100: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502833
3. http://www.bomber-command.info/c149wellloss.htm
4. http://www.backtonormandy.org/the-history/air-force-operations/airplanes-allies-and-axis-lost/wellington/L78051940-07-12.html
5. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-vickers-416-wellington-ic-north-sea-6-killed-0
6. Stained Glass Memorial to P/O Howie: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13706945@N00/14032968253
7. Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part one
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2046497/torgalson,-joseph-simon/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2041579/rose,-john-alexander/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2035884/craig,-john-william/
11. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2031507/futcher,-john-vernon/
12. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2046246/suggett,-charles/
13. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2055646/howie,-charles-william/
14. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Stained glass Memorial to Pilot Officer Charles William Howie at Chester Cathedral:

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Jul-2008 23:47	JINX	Added
09-Jan-2012 07:33	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
09-Mar-2013 18:25	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Country, Source, Narrative]
09-Mar-2013 18:25	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
13-Jun-2013 12:02	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Narrative]
21-Aug-2013 09:20	JINX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
19-May-2014 18:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Country, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
27-Apr-2015 18:56	ABBA	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
19-Jul-2019 19:38	TigerTimon	Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Location, Source]
13-Oct-2019 20:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
13-Oct-2019 20:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
11-Jul-2023 06:34	Rob Davis	Updated [[Source]]