Date & Time:
Apr 17, 1943 at 0003 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II
Operator:
Registration:
JB854
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Leeming - Leeming
Country:
France
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 Leeming at 2105LT on April 16 on an operation to Plzeň. Just after midnight, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed in Louppy-le-Château, killing the entire crew.
Crew:
F/Sgt George Chetwynd Heming, pilot,
Sgt Alexander Crawford Cantley, flight engineer,
W/O Roland Birchall, navigator,
F/Sgt Demetre Zaleschuk, bomb aimer,
Sgt Richard William Mason, wireless operator,
Sgt Stanley Johannes Jorgensen, air gunner,
Sgt Steve Archie, air gunner.
Crew:
F/Sgt George Chetwynd Heming, pilot,
Sgt Alexander Crawford Cantley, flight engineer,
W/O Roland Birchall, navigator,
F/Sgt Demetre Zaleschuk, bomb aimer,
Sgt Richard William Mason, wireless operator,
Sgt Stanley Johannes Jorgensen, air gunner,
Sgt Steve Archie, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
