Date & Time:
Apr 15, 1943 at 0320 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II
Operator:
Registration:
JB909
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Leeming - Leeming
Country:
France
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
8
Crew fatalities:
1
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
1
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Leeming at 2151LT on April 14 on an operation to Stuttgart. While returning to base the following night, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed in the district of La Neuvillette, Reims. The pilot was killed, the flight engineer evaded and six others became PoW.
Crew:
P/O Ian Cumming MacKenzie, pilot, †
Sgt W. L. Canter, flight engineer,
P/O Lloyd William McKenzie, navigator,
F/O Alfred Playfair, bomb aimer,
Sgt Thomas James Coupland, wireless operator,
P/O Conel O'Connell, air gunner,
P/O William Alexander McIlroy, air gunner,
F/Sgt J. S. Murray, air gunner.
Crew:
P/O Ian Cumming MacKenzie, pilot, †
Sgt W. L. Canter, flight engineer,
P/O Lloyd William McKenzie, navigator,
F/O Alfred Playfair, bomb aimer,
Sgt Thomas James Coupland, wireless operator,
P/O Conel O'Connell, air gunner,
P/O William Alexander McIlroy, air gunner,
F/Sgt J. S. Murray, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
