Date & Time:
Aug 27, 1942 at 2354 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II
Operator:
Registration:
W1270
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Elsham Wolds - Elsham Wolds
Country:
Netherlands
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
7
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Elsham Wolds at 2054LT on an operation to Kassel. Passing over the Netherlands at night at an altitude of 3,500 metres, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed in an open field located southwest of Buurse, bursting into flames. All seven occupants were killed.
Crew (103rd Squadron):
F/Lt James Rothwell Frith, pilot,
Sgt Walter Duncombe, flight engineer,
P/O Edward Arthur Rutherford Briant, observer,
Sgt George Hunter Wilson, bomb aimer,
Sgt John David Craig, wireless operator,
F/Sgt Barriemore Smallwood Blundall, wireless operator,
P/O Percival Gerald Hopkins, wireless operator.
Crew (103rd Squadron):
F/Lt James Rothwell Frith, pilot,
Sgt Walter Duncombe, flight engineer,
P/O Edward Arthur Rutherford Briant, observer,
Sgt George Hunter Wilson, bomb aimer,
Sgt John David Craig, wireless operator,
F/Sgt Barriemore Smallwood Blundall, wireless operator,
P/O Percival Gerald Hopkins, wireless operator.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
