Crash of a Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II in Wattignies-la-Victoire: 7 killed
Date & Time:
Jul 14, 1943 at 0230 LT
Operator:
Registration:
JD297
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Pocklington - Pocklington
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Pocklington at 2334LT on July 13 on an operation to Aachen. While returning to base the following night, cruising at an altitude of 5,000 metres in the vicinity of Maubeuge, it was shot down by a German fighter, disintegrated in the air and crashed in a field in Wattignies-la-Victoire. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew (102 Sq):
W/Cdr Henry Reginald Coventry, pilot,
Sgt Geoffrey Tristram Pine-Coffin, flight engineer,
F/Lt Frederick Edward King, navigator,
F/O Crosby Frank Read, bomb aimer,
Sgt Walter Brown, wireless operator,
Sgt William Hardy, air gunner,
F/Lt George Frank Hogg, air gunner.
Crew (102 Sq):
W/Cdr Henry Reginald Coventry, pilot,
Sgt Geoffrey Tristram Pine-Coffin, flight engineer,
F/Lt Frederick Edward King, navigator,
F/O Crosby Frank Read, bomb aimer,
Sgt Walter Brown, wireless operator,
Sgt William Hardy, air gunner,
F/Lt George Frank Hogg, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
