This 408 Squadron aircraft took off from Leeming airfield at 00.09hrs on 14th July 1943 to undertake an operational flight to bomb the town of Aachen in western Germany. The bombing force would comprise of 374 aircraft with 214 of these aircraft being Halifaxes, the raid was later assessed and described as a success. Prior to this crew being able to drop their bomb load they were attacked by an enemy fighter and although the aircraft remained in the air this combat was serious enough to damage the aircraft's hydraulic system which made it impossible for the bombs to be dropped. The pilot is believed to have shaken the attacking aircraft off by using evasive tactics. Whether the crew continued with the bomber stream over the target is not yet known but on the return leg they were again attacked and again evasive action by the pilot shook these enemy aircraft off. The pilot was able to keep control of the aircraft and was able to return to the Yorkshire skies but the damage sustained would have left the pilot with little option but allowing his crew enough height to bale out before making good his escape. It is likely that because of the damage the bomb load could not be released, nor could the undercarriage be lowered. Landing a heavy fully bombed and damaged Halifax is clearly not an ideal situation for the crew to be in, if the undercarriage could not be lowered then belly landing a fully armed Halifax would be even more hazardous. When they crossed the Yorkshire coastline they roughly made for base but as they crossed over the North Yorkshire Moors the crew began to bale out with plenty of time to spare and all landed without injury to themselves. The pilot made good his escape over the Hawnby area but suffered a heavy landing on farmland and sustained a broken leg. Before he left the aircraft he had turned it back towards open ground and the aircraft crashed into Arden Woods, between the villages of Hawnby and Kepwick at 05.50hrs. Part of the bomb load exploded in the crash and the aircraft was clearly destroyed. Through correspondance with the pilot's daughter it is learned after the aircraft crashed a local farming family who heard the explosion and went out to look for survivors. With the pilot having sustained injuries he must have alerted their attention either by shouting or using his whistle and he was found by the farming family who had taken a shotgun with him just in case. The local population were instructed to be suspicious of "crashed" airmen as they could be German agents in disguise, speaking with a foreign accent the locals took him to be just this and as he couldn’t walk he was dragged back to their house, rather painfully as he would recount to his daughter in later years. Sadly there is recollection of where this was in the pilot's family but it must surely have been in the Hawnby / Boltby / Kepwick area. He was later able to convince them he was Canadian and was taken to hospital for treatment to his leg injuries. For his actions in returning the aircraft and his crew to the UK the pilot received an immediate Distinguished Flying Cross, notification appeared in the London Gazette on 26th July 1943, details of the citation are included in the pilot's individual biography webpage linked below.

Following the crash of this aircraft No.6209 Bomb Disposal Flight (based at Thornaby) took care of some other bombs which did not explode, they were recorded as being 37 x 4lb incendiary bombs, 3 x 4lb Type-X incendiary bombs and 1 x 30lb incendiary bomb.