Date & Time:
Jul 16, 1943 at 0200 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II
Operator:
Registration:
HR854
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Gransden Lodge - Gransden Lodge
Country:
France
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
0
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
0
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Gransden Lodge at 2153LT on July 15 on an operation to the Peugeot factory based in Montbéliard (Sochaux). While returning to base the following night, cruising at an altitude of 5,000 feet east of Orleans, it was shot down by a German fighter. The crew abandoned the airplane that crashed in Tonnerre and was destroyed. All seven occupants parachuted to safety, an air gunner became PoW and six others evaded.
Crew (405 Sq):
F/Lt James H. Foy, pilot,
Sgt John Bert McDougall, flight engineer,
F/O Hugh Thompson Huston, observer,
S/L Albert Lambert, navigator,
Sgt Gregor MacGregor, wireless operator,
F/O Thomas William Simpson, air gunner,
F/Sgt Arthur Osborne Prior, air gunner.
Crew (405 Sq):
F/Lt James H. Foy, pilot,
Sgt John Bert McDougall, flight engineer,
F/O Hugh Thompson Huston, observer,
S/L Albert Lambert, navigator,
Sgt Gregor MacGregor, wireless operator,
F/O Thomas William Simpson, air gunner,
F/Sgt Arthur Osborne Prior, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
