Date & Time:
Jul 10, 1943 at 0208 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.63 Halifax V
Operator:
Registration:
DK229
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Middleton Saint George - Middleton Saint George
Country:
Germany
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 Middleton St George at 2236LT on July 9 on an operation to Gelsenkirchen. Over the target area at an altitude of 10,000 feet, it was shot down by the German Flak. The pilot ordered the crew to bail out which they all managed successfully. Shortly later, the airplane entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed in Imhausen. The pilot was killed. Five crew members became PoW and one evaded.
Crew:
S/L Frederick Harold Bowden, pilot, †
Sgt Hugh McGeach, flight engineer,
Sgt Harry Norman Frederick Rowe, navigator,
P/O Raymond John Gritten, bomb aimer,
Sgt A. J. A. Reynolds, wireless operator,
Sgt John Wingfield Nuttall Hurst, air gunner,
P/O Benjamin McKenzie Fitzgerald, air gunner.
Crew:
S/L Frederick Harold Bowden, pilot, †
Sgt Hugh McGeach, flight engineer,
Sgt Harry Norman Frederick Rowe, navigator,
P/O Raymond John Gritten, bomb aimer,
Sgt A. J. A. Reynolds, wireless operator,
Sgt John Wingfield Nuttall Hurst, air gunner,
P/O Benjamin McKenzie Fitzgerald, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by the German Flak.
