Crash of a Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax I in Valognes
Date & Time:
Sep 11, 1941 at 0615 LT
Registration:
Z9566
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Stradishall - Stradishall
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
0
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Stradishall at 2235LT on September 10 on an operation to Torino. While returning to base the following morning, it crash landed near Valognes and was damaged beyond repair. All seven crew members became PoW.
Crew:
Sgt Ernest Henry Jackson,
Sgt John Edmund Murrell,
Sgt Alexander Osborne,
Sgt Alexander Urquhart,
F/O Gerald Standish Williams,
P/O James Oliver Hedley,
Sgt Charles Frederic Seymour Ryder.
Crew:
Sgt Ernest Henry Jackson,
Sgt John Edmund Murrell,
Sgt Alexander Osborne,
Sgt Alexander Urquhart,
F/O Gerald Standish Williams,
P/O James Oliver Hedley,
Sgt Charles Frederic Seymour Ryder.
Probable cause:
It is believed that the crew mistook the Cherbourg peninsula for the English coast and turned towards France, instead of maintaining a northerly track.