Lancaster DS852 at East Moor airfield.

On 2nd January 1944 the crew of this aircraft bombed Berlin successfully but on their return over Southampton they were fired upon by 'friendly' Anti Aircraft batteries and suffered minor damage. The aircraft landed safely at East Moor airfield and was later given Cat.A(c)/FB damage and repaired.

Pilot - F/Lt Clayton K Barrett RCAF (J/5036). Of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

FEng - Sgt George E Coe RAFVR (1126098). Of Handbridge, Chester.

Nav - F/O Douglas G Bentley RCAF (J/22576). Of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

AB - P/O Geoffrey A Goom DFC RAFVR (148057), of Bristol.

AG - P/O Ernest A Logan RCAF (J/19067), of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.

WOp/AG - F/Sgt Alexander Hamilton RCAF (J/19965). Of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.

RG - Sgt William M Shaw RAFVR (171598), of Cathcart, Glasgow.

F/Lt Barrett and crew returned to 432 Squadron after completing the conversion course to fly the Lancaster at 1679 HCFlt on 4th October 1943. On the night of 21st/22nd January 1944 many of those named above were undertaking Ops to Magdeburg when their aircraft was hit by flak injuring P/O Logan (the Mid Upper Gunner), they landed at Wratting Common and he received treatment. The newly promoted S/Ldr Barrett was lost with his crew of seven when Halifax NA500 failed to return from Ops to Boulogne on 12th May 1944. S/Ldr Barrett has no known grave. Of those listed above some were with him on this night; F/Sgt Coe, F/O Bentley & P/O Hamilton are buried in the Canadian War Cemetery at Calais, France and P/O Shaw is buried in Marquise Communal Cemetery between Boulogne and Calais. This flight was S/Ldr Barrett's third Halifax Op when he was lost. Prior to enlisting he attended McGill University where he studied Science between 1936-37.
As stated above Ernest Logan sustained injuries on 22nd January 1944, he was later awarded the DFC and the citation makes mention to the events of this night. His DFC appeared in the London Gazette on 13th June 1944, the citation reads.. "This officer has taken part in a large number of sorties involving attacks on a variety of strongly defended targets. On one occasion he was the mid-upper gunner of an aircraft detailed to attack Magdeburg when over the target the aircraft was struck by a burst of machine gun fire from a fighter. A large hole was torn in the fuselage just below the mid-upper turret and a fire started. Pilot Officer Logan was wounded in the leg and foot but in spite of his injuries he promptly stamped on the burning portion and thus put out the flames. He then re-manned his guns as his pilot went on to bomb the target. Pilot Officer Logan has invariably displayed a high degree of courage, determination and zeal."

He was born in Boistown, New Brunswick in 1923 and enlisted in Moncton, New Brunswick in December 1941. This citation from found in Hugh Halliday's superb research into RCAF awards, he makes a very minor error in stating P/O Logan was serving with 32 Squadron at the time and not 432 Squadron.

Geoffrey Goom received his commission on 6th June 1943 to P/O on probation (emergency) and rose to F/O on 6th December 1943. He probably completed a Tour with 432 Squadron and was later posted to 35 Squadron. He was awarded the DFC for service with the Pathfinder Squadron - 35 Squadron, Gazetted on 15th September 1944. No citation for the award has yet been found. On 6th June 1945 he rose to F/Lt (war subs). He died in May 2004.
Lancaster DS852 was built to Contract ACFT/239 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd at Baginton and delivered to MU store in October 1943 but quickly was issued to 432 Squadron at East Moor in November 1943. It suffered Cat.A(c)/FB damage in the incident detailed above and was repaired on site with repair completed by 5th January 1944. It was later transferred to 426 Squadron at Linton on Ouse on 9th February 1944 when 432 Squadron started to convert to Halifax's. With 426 Squadron it was coded "OW-Q" and on 31st March 1944 it failed to return from Op's to Nuremberg. It was later found to have been shotdown by a night-fighter and crashed near Brotterode with two being killed and five made PoW..

The incident detailed above was DS852's third operational flight and F/Lt Barrett's fourth (one being on Wellingtons and three on Lancasters). Lancaster DS852 went on to complete a total of seven operational flights with 432 Squadron before transfer to 426 Squadron.