Wellington HE350 at East Moor airfield.

On 16th July 1943 the crew of this Wellington took off from East Moor at 22.40hrs to bomb Essen. The aircraft returned early with Gee and radio trouble but overshot the landing at 00.37hrs and the undercarriage collapsed. Damage was caused to the undercarriage, propellers and both engines as well as some structural damage resulting to underside of aircraft. Police reports quote that it came to rest in a field at the Low Carr Farm end of the airfield. Minor Cat.B/FB damage was recorded and the aircraft was repaired.

Pilot - Sgt David McM Smith DFM RCAF (R/106305), of St.James, Manitoba, Canada. Uninjured.

Navigator - Sgt William Pass RAF. Uninjured.

Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt Douglas R Nelson RCAF (R/114213). Uninjured.

WOp/AG - Sgt Randolph T Abbott RAFVR (1382581), of St.Vincent, West Indies. Uninjured.

Rear Gunner - Sgt Robert H Davis RCAF (R/147287?), of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Canada. Uninjured.

David Smith was born in Winnipeg in 1922, his home in was St.James, Manitoba but he enlisted in Winnipeg on 27th May 1941. After completing his training he was posted to 429 Squadron in Spring 1943 and on 3rd April 1943 he was the pilot of Wellington Z1670 on an airtest when he was forced to land at South Kilvington near Thirsk. He and Doug Nelson and the others on the aircraft all survived. He appears to have flown his first operational flight with 429 Squadron on 11th June 1943. He awarded the DFM for his efforts on the night of 25/26th June 1943 in Wellington HF495, it appeared in the London Gazette on 27th July 1943 although was not presented until 8th May 1948. The Citation reads..

"This airman was the pilot of an aircraft which attacked Gelsenkirchen one night in June 1943. On the return flight the bomber was attacked by an enemy fighter and sustained damage to the fuselage, the hydraulic system and the wireless equipment, while two of the crew were wounded. A fire broke out in the bomb bay but Sergeant Smith violently dived his aircraft and the flames were extinguished by the force of the wind. On reaching an airfield in this country he effected a successful crash landing. Sergeant Smith displayed great skill and resource in harassing circumstances."

F/Sgt Abbott and Sgt Nelson were both injured in the attack by the Me110, the aircraft was crash-landed at Hardwick airfield at 04.50hrs on 26th June 1943.

On the night of 25/26th November 1943 Smith, Nelson, Abbott, Davis were in Halifax LK995 on Ops to Frankfurt. The aircraft was shot down by a night-fighter over Belgium but twenty one year old P/O Davis was reported to having been killed in the attack. Nelson, Abbott and Smith all became PoW's.

F/Sgt Nelson was posted in to 429 Squadron from 22 OTU on 27th December 1942. He was born in May 1920 in St.Catherines, Ontario. His family moved to North Tonawanda, New York State, USA when he was young but he returned to his native Canada to enlist into the RCAF in 1941. While stationed at East Moor he would meet his future wife. He survived the crash-landing of Wellington Z1670 near South Kilvington on 3rd April 1943. After being liberated in 1945 he returned to England and married before returning to Canada together. Also of interest is that in 1955 they and their two children returned to Yorkshire to live where he started a motor mechanic buisness and later ran a service station at Green Hammerton, between York and Harrogate. Douglas Nelson died in Yorkshire on 3rd May 1997.

Randolph Abbott was one of a small band of West Indians who travelled to the UK to join the RAF in 1940. His parents are recorded as living in Barataria, Trinidad and he was employed in Aruba, Netherlands West Indies prior to travelling to England on his own accord.

Sgt Pass was posted into 429 Squadron from 427 Squadron on 6th May 1943, and posted out to 24 OTU on 29th November 1943 probably for instructing duties. Nothing more is known about him.
Wellington HE350 was built to contract B124362/40 by Vickers Armstrong's at Chester and delivered to MU storage in December 1942 and issued to 429 Squadron at East Moor in mid June 1943. It suffered flak damage sustaining Cat.A/FB damage on 29th June 1943 and was repaired on site. The repairs being completed by 3rd July 1943. It then suffered this Cat.B/FB mishap on 26th July 1943 but this time was sent away and repared in works. On completion of repair it was issued to 1485 Target Towing Flight at Skellingthorpe in September 1943. It was later lost with Cat.E2/FA damage recorded on 20th September 1943 when both engines cut on take off and it crashed two miles north-east of Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire.