Date & Time:
Apr 27, 1943 at 0315 LT
Type of aircraft:
Vickers 440 Wellington X
Operator:
Registration:
HE168
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Leconfield - Leconfield
Country:
Netherlands
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
5
Crew fatalities:
5
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
5
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Leconfield at 0001LT on an operation to Duisburg. Passing over the Netherlands, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed in Poederoijen. All five crew members were killed.
Crew:
Sgt George Frederick Fletcher, pilot,
P/O Ernest George Francis, navigator,
Sgt Eric Thomas Dunn Hardee, bomb aimer,
Sgt Frank Theodore Pratt, wireless operator,
Sgt James Alfred Hawkins, air gunner.
Crew:
Sgt George Frederick Fletcher, pilot,
P/O Ernest George Francis, navigator,
Sgt Eric Thomas Dunn Hardee, bomb aimer,
Sgt Frank Theodore Pratt, wireless operator,
Sgt James Alfred Hawkins, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
