Date & Time:
Jul 25, 1943 at 2354 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II
Operator:
Registration:
HR864
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Gransden Lodge - Gransden Lodge
Country:
Netherlands
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
6
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
6
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Gransden Lodge at 2146LT on an operation to Essen. Shortly before midnight, while outbound vertical to the Netherlands, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed near Ten Boer, about 10 km northeast of Groningen. Six crew members were killed and one became PoW.
Crew:
F/O Marcel Emmett Tomczak, pilot, †
Sgt Albert Joseph Wood, flight engineer, †
F/O Alexander Purves McCracken, navigator, †
F/O Alexander Joseph Sochowski, bomb aimer,
W/O Clifford John Vosper Kettley, wireless operator, †
F/Sgt Edward Kenneth Eddie White, air gunner, †
P/O Michael Sydney Smyth, air gunner. †
Crew:
F/O Marcel Emmett Tomczak, pilot, †
Sgt Albert Joseph Wood, flight engineer, †
F/O Alexander Purves McCracken, navigator, †
F/O Alexander Joseph Sochowski, bomb aimer,
W/O Clifford John Vosper Kettley, wireless operator, †
F/Sgt Edward Kenneth Eddie White, air gunner, †
P/O Michael Sydney Smyth, air gunner. †
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
