Date & Time:
Aug 29, 1942 at 0010 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II
Operator:
Registration:
BB214
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Elsham Wolds - Elsham Wolds
Country:
Germany
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
4
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
4
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Elsham Wolds at 2037LT on August 28 on an operation to Nuremberg. While overflying Germany at night, it was attacked by the pilot of a German fighter. The captain reduced his altitude in an attempt to make an emergency landing when the airplane crashed near the monastery on the shore of the Laacher Lake, north of Mending. Four crew members were killed and three others became PoW.
Crew (103rd Squadron):
Sgt Harold Gainsford Dryhurst, pilot,
Sgt James Wilfrid Platt, flight engineer, †
Sgt Arthur Allan Roberts, navigator,
P/O Vincent Merrill MacDonald Morrison, bomb aimer, †
F/S John Joseph Carey, wireless operator, †
Sgt Bernard Francis Anthon Hughes, air gunner,
Sgt John Louis MacLachlan, air gunner. †
Crew (103rd Squadron):
Sgt Harold Gainsford Dryhurst, pilot,
Sgt James Wilfrid Platt, flight engineer, †
Sgt Arthur Allan Roberts, navigator,
P/O Vincent Merrill MacDonald Morrison, bomb aimer, †
F/S John Joseph Carey, wireless operator, †
Sgt Bernard Francis Anthon Hughes, air gunner,
Sgt John Louis MacLachlan, air gunner. †
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
