Date & Time:
May 14, 1943 at 0225 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II
Operator:
Registration:
JB966
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Gransden Lodge - Gransden Lodge
Country:
Netherlands
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
3
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
3
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Gransden Lodge at 2352LT on May 13 on an operation to Bochum. Passing over the Netherlands, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed in Oud-Avereest. Three crew members were killed and four others became PoW.
Crew:
F/O Hugh Donald Beattie, pilot, †
Sgt John Donald Gibson, flight engineer,
P/O John Arthur Hawtin, navigator,
Sgt Kenneth William Clarke, bomb aimer,
Sgt Sydney Buchanan Hawley, wireless operator, †
Sgt Reginald Ferguson, air gunner,
F/Sgt Ralph Eric Hart, air gunner. †
Crew:
F/O Hugh Donald Beattie, pilot, †
Sgt John Donald Gibson, flight engineer,
P/O John Arthur Hawtin, navigator,
Sgt Kenneth William Clarke, bomb aimer,
Sgt Sydney Buchanan Hawley, wireless operator, †
Sgt Reginald Ferguson, air gunner,
F/Sgt Ralph Eric Hart, air gunner. †
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
