Date & Time:
Jun 23, 1943 at 0206 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.63 Halifax V
Operator:
Registration:
DG405
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Military
Survivors:
No
Site:
Lake, Sea, Ocean, River
Schedule:
Tempsford - Tempsford
Country:
Netherlands
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
8
Crew fatalities:
8
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
8
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Tempsford at 2335LT on June 22 on Operation St Paul/Harrow and Catarrh (Special Operation Executive). After two Dutch agents, G. A. van Borssum Buisman and H. Letteboer, parachuted to safety, the airplane was returning to base when it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed into the IJsselmeer 8 km west of Urk. All eight crew members were killed.
Crew:
Sgt Norman Blanchard, flight engineer,
Sgt George Noel Cochrane, air gunner,
Sgt Gordon George, bomb aimer,
Sgt Frank Groom, wireless operator,
Sgt Charles William Hartin, navigator,
P/O Robert Geoffrey Higgins, pilot,
F/Sgt Maynard Hazlett Moore, navigator,
Sgt Robin Douglas Pryde-Watson, air gunner.
Crew:
Sgt Norman Blanchard, flight engineer,
Sgt George Noel Cochrane, air gunner,
Sgt Gordon George, bomb aimer,
Sgt Frank Groom, wireless operator,
Sgt Charles William Hartin, navigator,
P/O Robert Geoffrey Higgins, pilot,
F/Sgt Maynard Hazlett Moore, navigator,
Sgt Robin Douglas Pryde-Watson, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
