Langar AFB

The crew was engaged in a paratrooping mission over The Netherlands. While approaching the drop zone, the aircraft was attacked by the German Flak. The pilot decided to reduce his altitude in an attempt to make an emergency landing. Eventually, the aircraft crash landed in flames in a field located 3 km east of Groesbeek. Two crew members were killed while all 13 other occupants were uninjured.

The crew left RAF Langar at 2236LT on a bombing mission to Torino. En route, while cruising at an altitude of 18,000 feet, the crew encountered stormy weather and decided to reduce his altitude and to reroute. In poor visibility, the aircraft hit the slope of Mt Le Grammont located southwest of Le Bouveret. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew (207th Squadron):
P/O Horace Badge, pilot,
Sgt Robert Wood, flight engineer,
F/S Ronald Oswald Charles Brett, air gunner,
Sgt James Arthur Spence, air gunner,
Sgt Edward Higgins, wireless operator,
Sgt Arthur Charles Wright, observer,
F/Lt Arthur Charles Jepps, navigator.

The airplane departed RAF Langar at 1923LT on an operation to Essen. Approaching the target area, it crashed in unknown circumstances in Bottrop, about 10 km northwest of Essen. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/O Michael Eugene Doble, pilot,
Sgt Alexander Garden, flight engineer,
F/O Brendan Clitheroe, navigator,
P/O Ian Alistair Hardy Linklater, wireless operator,
Sgt Bernard Leo Litolff, wireless operator,
F/Sgt Robert Stonehouse Carr, air gunner,
F/Sgt Thomas Jack Walker, air gunner.

The airplane departed RAF Langar at 2041LT on March 9 on an operation to Munich. In the following night, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed in Tagnon. Four crew members were killed, one became PoW and two evaded.
Crew:
F/Sgt Ivor Wood, pilot, †
Sgt R. Brown, flight engineer,
Sgt G. I. Brownhill, navigator,
Sgt Richard Hall Warren, bomb aimer, †
Sgt William Garvey Lishman, wireless operator,
Sgt George Sydney Margetson, air gunner, †
Sgt George Mortimore, air gunner. †

The airplane departed RAF Grimsby at 1832LT on March 4 on a mine laying operation. While returning to base the following night, the crew diverted to RAF Langar where the airplane crashed on approach and was destroyed. Six crew members were killed and one was injured.
Crew:
F/Sgt Gerald Russell Avey, pilot, †
Sgt Grey Doyle Cumberbatch, †
Sgt Benjamin Thomas Hallett, †
Sgt John Robinson, †
Sgt Alan Havelock Spence, †
Sgt D. S. Davies,
F/Sgt Rene Rodger Landry, air gunner. †

The airplane departed RAF Langar at 1900LT on an operation to Hamburg. Approaching the target area, it was shot down by the German Flak and crashed in Wedel, some 18 km west of Hamburg. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew:
Sgt Peter Evison, pilot,
Sgt Raymond Walter Ernest Holley, flight engineer,
F/O Bernard Johnson, navigator,
W/O William Victor Wallace, wireless operator,
Sgt Lewis Reginald Thompson, air gunner,
W/O William Edward Cain, air gunner,
F/Sgt Melville George Delatorre.

The airplane departed RAF Langar at 1833LT to lay mines of the French coast. It failed to return to base and is believed to have crashed into the sea off Biarritz. Lost without trace.
Crew:
Sgt Ralph Isaacs, pilot,
Sgt Richard Brown, mechanic,
F/O George Alexander Bisset, navigator,
Sgt William Oliver Shelley, radio operator,
F/Sgt Kenneth George Peters, bomb aimer,
Sgt John Walter Webster, air gunner,
F/O Frank Bryce Hawkins, air gunner.

The airplane departed RAF Langar at 1950LT on an operation to Ludwigshafen. Approaching the target area at an altitude of 4,000 metres, it was shot down by the German Flak and crashed in Maudach. All eight crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/Lt William Alexander Stevenson Elder, pilot,
F/O Murray Kerr Sexton, pilot,
Sgt Kenneth Roy Johnson, flight engineer,
F/O George Howard Wheeler, observer,
Sgt Kenneth Herbert Hogarth, bomb aimer,
Sgt John Stanley Fayle, wireless operator,
W/O Robert Stanley Hannah, air gunner,
W/O Percy Gordon Williams, air gunner.

The airplane departed RAF Langar at 1828LT on an operation to Wilhelmshaven. Approaching the target area from the north, it was shot down by the German Flak and crashed into the sea some 2,5 km northeast of Hooksiel, some 13 km north of Wilhelmshaven. Six crew members were killed and one became PoW.
Crew:
Sgt Norman Clive Beer, pilot, †
Sgt Walter Gordon Gawthorpe, flight engineer,†
P/O Charles Douglas Ernest Burney, navigator,
Sgt Harold John West, bomb aimer, †
Sgt William Harding, wireless operator, †
Sgt James Logan Whyte, air gunner, †
Sgt Joseph Smurthwaite, air gunner. †

The airplane departed RAF Bottesford at 1914LT on February 14 on an operation to Milan. The following night, while flying over France on a return flight to RAF Langar, the crew noticed that all four engines' temperature was too high. Shortly later, the engine n°1 caught fire and exploded. The crew decided to abandon the aircraft but only two crew bailed out and survived while five other occupants were killed when the aircraft went out of control and crashed in a field located in Saint Brisson, west of Saulieu.
Crew (207th Squadron):
F/Sgt John H. F. Whyte, pilot,
F/Sgt Stanley H. Eyre, flight engineer,
F/Sgt Thomas William Strong, observer, †
Sgt Frank Ivan Tillen, navigator, †
F/Sgt Athol Richard Grainger, †
Sgt Henry George Bone, †
Sgt Kenneth White. †