Date & Time:
May 26, 1943 at 0151 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II
Operator:
Registration:
JB837
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Elvington - Elvington
Country:
Germany
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 Elvington at 2330LT on May 25 on an operation to Düsseldorf. It was shot down by a German fighter and crashed in Jülich, 44 km southwest of Düsseldorf. All seven crew members were killed. The airplane exploded with a full bomb load with such force that two Short S.29 Stirling flying close by, BF534 and EF361, were both knocked down and also crashed south of Jülich, killing all 14 crew members on board.
Crew:
Sgt Richard Lewis, pilot,
Sgt William Reginald Leslie Codd, flight engineer,
Sgt John Walton Richardson, navigator,
Sgt John Hunter Waterston, navigator,
Sgt Joseph Kershaw, wireless operator,
F/Sgt Joseph Fernand Rolland Laurence, air gunner,
F/Sgt David William Macfarlane, air gunner.
Crew:
Sgt Richard Lewis, pilot,
Sgt William Reginald Leslie Codd, flight engineer,
Sgt John Walton Richardson, navigator,
Sgt John Hunter Waterston, navigator,
Sgt Joseph Kershaw, wireless operator,
F/Sgt Joseph Fernand Rolland Laurence, air gunner,
F/Sgt David William Macfarlane, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
