Date & Time:
May 13, 1943 at 0247 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II
Operator:
Registration:
JB861
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Middleton Saint George - Middleton Saint George
Country:
Netherlands
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
7
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Middleton Saint George at 2314LT on May 12 on an operation to Duisburg. Passing over the Netherlands, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed in Zuidland. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew:
W/O John Palmer, pilot,
Sgt William Allan Simonett, flight engineer,
F/O Thomas Brown, bomb aimer,
Sgt Herbert Walsh, bomb aimer,
W/O Raymond Cuthbert Weedy, wireless operator,
F/Sgt Roger Emile Lucien Ratelle, air gunner,
Sgt Alfred James Gearing, air gunner.
Crew:
W/O John Palmer, pilot,
Sgt William Allan Simonett, flight engineer,
F/O Thomas Brown, bomb aimer,
Sgt Herbert Walsh, bomb aimer,
W/O Raymond Cuthbert Weedy, wireless operator,
F/Sgt Roger Emile Lucien Ratelle, air gunner,
Sgt Alfred James Gearing, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
