Crash of a Vickers 440 Wellington X in Solre-sur-Sambre: 6 killed
Date & Time:
Jul 4, 1943 at 0223 LT
Operator:
Registration:
HZ478
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Leconfield - Leconfield
Crew on board:
6
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
6
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Leconfield at 2247LT on July 3 on an operation to Cologne. Passing over Belgium, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed in Solre-sur-Sambre, killing the entire crew.
Crew:
F/O Eric Douglas Eastwood, pilot,
F/O James Henry Stewart, pilot,
F/O Herbert Clifford Wheal, navigator,
F/Sgt Howard Langlands, bomb aimer,
Sgt Alfred Reginald Stone, wireless operator,
Sgt Morris Dixon, air gunner.
Crew:
F/O Eric Douglas Eastwood, pilot,
F/O James Henry Stewart, pilot,
F/O Herbert Clifford Wheal, navigator,
F/Sgt Howard Langlands, bomb aimer,
Sgt Alfred Reginald Stone, wireless operator,
Sgt Morris Dixon, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
