ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 351101
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| Date: | Tuesday 29 February 1944 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Handley Page Halifax Mk V |
| Owner/operator: | 1664 (Caribou) HCU RCAF |
| Registration: | LK643 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 8 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Location: | RAF Aberporth, Blaenannerch, Cardiganshire, West Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Dishforth, North Yorkshire |
| RAF Aberporth, Cardiganshire |
Mission: Training.
Details:
Production of the Halifax began at Handley Page's factory at Cricklewood and at English Electric 's site in Samlesbury, Lancashire. In order to speed up production, Handley Page implemented several new manufacturing techniques, including two pioneering approaches: photo-lofting and split construction. In the latter capacity, each Halifax was built from various sub-assemblies. Surface panels were flush riveted, although the matt black night bomber camouflage negated its benefit.
Handley Page built the assemblies and components at Cricklewood, and the aircraft were assembled and flown from Radlett Aerodrome. The first production aircraft flew from Radlett on 11 October 1940. The sizeable production run envisioned required the involvement of several other companies in addition to Handley Page.
The resulting Halifax Group was established to oversee the manufacturing programme, comprising English Electric (who had previously built Handley Page Hampdens), various firms within the London Aircraft Production Group, Fairey Aviation and Rootes Motors. Because of this scheme, Halifaxes were manufactured at sites across the British Isles.
LK643 was one of the 662 units built by Fairey Aviation at their Stockport plant to contract A/C891. She was assigned to the RAF straight from the works arriving at 427 ‘LION’ squadron on the 5th of September 1943 and was given ‘ZL-Y’.
She was involved with the raid of the night of the 15/16th of September 1943 on the Dunlop rubber factory at Montlucon in France. The raid was extremely successful where every building in the site was hit and burned for days afterwards. The crew for this first mission was an all sergeant one, Sgt Olsvik (Capt’). Sgt’s Mckenna, Warren, Johnson, Tobin, Tallion and Richard.
Between October and December, she was on Op’s on the 3rd and again on the 10th over Kassel, on the 4th over Frankfurt. November saw the 3rd with a raid on Dusseldorf and the squadrons furthest mission of the war to date when Cannes was successfully bombed on the 11th, where the rail marshalling yards were heavily hit. December the 3rd Lepzig, then Frankfurt again on the 20th.
The new year saw Op’s being stopped due to bad weather. It wasn’t until the 20th of January that the squadron raided Berlin. However, for LK643, the Gee went U/S and they had to return early, jettisoning the bombs ‘Live’ over the North Sea. This proved to be the last Op’ with 427 squadron.
In January 1943, Dishforth, along with ten other RAF airfields, was handed over from the RAF to the Royal Canadian Air Force. The operational Canadian squadrons moved out of Dishforth in 1943, which allowed for the runway to be upgraded. The RCAF kept Dishforth as the training arm for its bomber squadrons and when the upgrade was complete in November 1943, No. 1664 HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit) was allocated to the base.
On the 4th of February 1944 she arrived at 1664 HCU. The unit used the codes ‘ZU’, by the end of the month she was on a day Nav’ Ex’ over Wales and the Irish Sea, the pilot was F/O W.G. Wright, and his instructor was a fellow Canadian, F/O R.F. Smith. They had to call an emergency when the Port Inner airscrew began ‘Windmilling’ after the engine cut out. Unable to reach a suitable landing ground, they had to go for RAF Aberporth, knowing it had a short runway. But F/O Wright neglected to use the emergency flap setting which would have cut the airspeed down, limiting the overshoot. Instead, the aircraft, unable to stop in time, ran off and through the hedge at the perimeter, causing the undercarriage to lift, ending up on her belly happily without any injuries to the crew.
The post incident investigation on the ‘Dead’ engine found, the Crankshaft had broken due to oil leakage, losing the ability to feather the propeller. The findings for the forced landing onto an unsuitable aerodrome, all came down to the Port Inner engine being starved of oil, causing the crankshaft to snap.
When the recovery crews tried to lift the aircraft onto her undercarriage, it was found that the hydraulic hand pump had been damaged, along with some of the pipes being crushed or broken.
LK643 was Cat’B. But after further inspection, she was Struck Off Charge (SoC) on the 18th of March 1944.
Crew:
F/O W.G. Wright J/26746 RCAF. Pilot. Safe.
F/O R.F. Smith J/17980 RCAF. Pilot/Instr’. Safe.
Remainder of the crew not known but all safe.
Wreckage:
Nothing remains.
Additional Information:
On the evening of September 15, 1943, starting at 11:30 p.m., the Allies conducted an aerial bombardment for the first time in the south of France. Their target: the Dunlop factory in Montluçon. In thirty-five minutes, the bombs of more than three hundred planes destroyed almost all of the buildings on the site, killed around fifty people in the Montluçon region, injured more than one hundred and fifty and left some three thousand disaster victims. 150-night shift workers were working at the plant when the deluge of fire broke out. Only six died. A miracle when you know that one hundred and thirty-three craters have been listed on the site.
The surrounding countryside was riddled with more than five hundred other craters, when instructions were given to spare the population. Half focused on the village of Tizon, in Saint-Victor. The bombers were helped by pathfinders that dropped coloured markers that cascaded over the target. But not only were markers mistakenly dropped on the village of Tizon, but black smoke rose very quickly over the Dunlop factory, hiding the various landmarks. The day after the attack, this small village was lunar. H.E. bombs also fell on the town of Montluçon itself, rue Paul-Constans, at the lycée (now Jules-Ferry college), on the Sagem, and the entire northern part of the city Dunlop was on fire.
For the force, this raid proved to be a success. The factory was a pile of ruins and scrap metal. Four planes did not return home. It must be said that the operation was not risky, the Germans only had four or five units of anti-aircraft batteries in Montluçon. It was clear that the Germans did not expect such a raid on the city.
In the days that followed, the Vichey French state turned the propaganda to their advantage, “The newspapers told how the hamlets of the Montluçon region were systematically bombed by English aviators.
The day after the attack, Marshal Pétain went to Montluçon to meet the wounded and visit the chamber of commerce and industry, where a burning chapel had been erected, and made a donation of 100,000 francs to the victims. It is now known that five B-17s from 305BG/422BS joined the night mission with the RAF to bomb the Dunlop Rubber Factory at Montlucon, France. This was one of the rare occasions the USAAF flew at night.
Sources:
www.iwm.org.uk
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
www.rafcommands.com
www.world-today-news.com
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 22-Jan-2024 08:39 | Davies 62 | Added |
| 08-Apr-2024 20:28 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator] |
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