Wellington HF456 at East Moor airfield.

On the night of 20th/21st September 1943 the crew of this aircraft had been tasked with mine laying off the French Coast in the region of Brest. This was the first 432 Squadron operational flight since moving from East Moor. At 00.40hrs this aircraft was landing at East Moor airfield on their return but overshot and the undercarriage collapsed and damage was sustained to the undercarriage, engines and fuselage structure.

Pilot - P/O Stanley K Atkinson RCAF (J/18229), of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Navigator - Sgt Leo F Cook RCAF (R/144405), of Lindsay, Ontario, Canada.

Bomb aimer - Sgt W A Grant RCAF (J/18813).

WOp/AG - P/O Alfred W Chubb RAFVR (155352), of Forest Gate, Essex.

Rear Gunner - Sgt H Turner. (Possibly Sgt Herbert Albert Turner RCAF).

All the above named (with the exception of Sgt Turner) were on board Wellington HE817 when it was reported as missing days after this incident at East Moor. On 27th September 1943 their aircraft was lost on Ops to Hannover. Sgt Grant became a POW, but P/O Atkinson, Sgt Cook and P/O Chubb were killed. In November 2007 I was contacted by the neice of F/Sgt Leo Cook, she informed me that the aircraft crashed on Schulensbergerlandstrasse 107 in Hannover, Germany and that an inquest in October 1948 confirmed the bodies of four airmen were found but unidentifiable and buried in Hannover War Cemetery having been found in the wreckage of this aircraft at the time. I would like to thank Ms K. Pakenham for contacting me and for this additional information. P/O Atkinson was twenty years old, F/Sgt Cook was twenty two and P/O Chubb was an old man in terms of Bomber Command ages, at the age of thirty five he was one of the oldest members of 432 Squadron killed in the whole war, he received his commission on 15th July 1943 to P/O on probation (emergency).
The rear gunner was possibly one Herbert Albert Turner RCAF (R/18079) who was killed on 16th December 1943, he was twenty four years old. He was killed when Lancaster DS831 was shot down on Ops to Berlin and is buried at Leeuwarden Protestant Churchyard, Holland. This day became known as Black Thursday and is well documented on the internet and in a book written by Mr Richard Knott in the mid-2000's.
Wellington HF456 was built to contract B124362/40 by Vickers Armstrong's at Chester and delivered for MU acceptance in May 1943. It was issued to 432 Squadron at Skipton on Swale in June 1943 and moved with unit to East Moor on 16th September 1943. It sustained Cat.B/FB damage following this incident and was taken away to be repaired in works. On completion of the repair it was issued to 12 OTU at Chipping Warden in late 1943. It went into MU storage when unit disbanded on 22nd June 1945 and was later struck off charge as scrap on 12th May 1947 after a long period of storage.