Date & Time:
Apr 15, 1943 at 0322 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II
Operator:
Registration:
BB311
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Leeming - Leeming
Country:
France
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
1
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
1
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Leeming at 2131LT 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 a marshy field located in Tugny-et-Pont. The wireless operator was killed and six other crew members became PoW.
Crew:
P/O Leyland Ellis Usher, pilot,
Sgt Robert Ernest Dressler, flight engineer,
P/O Grenville Marshall Parkinson, navigator,
Sgt Ian Ross MacDonald, bomb aimer,
Sgt John Joseph Courtney, wireless operator, †
Sgt Walter Reed, air gunner,
P/O Raymon Harry Jay, air gunner.
Crew:
P/O Leyland Ellis Usher, pilot,
Sgt Robert Ernest Dressler, flight engineer,
P/O Grenville Marshall Parkinson, navigator,
Sgt Ian Ross MacDonald, bomb aimer,
Sgt John Joseph Courtney, wireless operator, †
Sgt Walter Reed, air gunner,
P/O Raymon Harry Jay, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
