Wellington HZ484 damaged by a night-fighter, returned to East Moor airfield.

On 8th October 1943 this Wellington took off from East Moor airfield in the evening for Ops to Hannover in what would be one of the heavy attacks on the German city in the whole of the War. On their return leg at 01.35hrs the aircraft was attacked by a Junkers Ju88, the crew of the Wellington shook off the attack but later it was attacked for a second time by another enemy aircraft in which damage was sustained to the Wellington. The rear gunner of the Wellington returned fire and scored hits and the enemy aircraft was seen to crash with fire coming from its port engine. The Wellington was able to return to East Moor and land in the early hours without further incident and damaged was assessed and declared as Cat.B/FB.

Pilot - F/O William C Turner USAAF (T-0190910).

Navigator - Sgt Donald Harmon RCAF, of Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Bomb Aimer - Sgt P Turmeau,

WOp/AG - F/Sgt Montague A T "Monty" Brudell RAAF (413340), of Sydney, Australia.

Rear Gunner - W/O Raymond K Saunders RAAF (406814). of East Guildford, Western Australia.

On 16th December 1943 and on their ninth 432 Squadron operational flight F/O Fisher and W/O Saunders were lost when Lancaster DS831 failed to return from Ops to Berlin. Their aircraft was shot down by a night-fighter (piloted by Oblt Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer) and crashed between Wijtgaard and Weidum, near Leeuwarden, Holland. Those who died were buried in Leeuwarden (Huizum) Protestant Churchyard but F/O Fisher now rests in the Ardennes American Cemetery at Neupre, Belgium. F/Sgt Brudell baled out and became a PoW. The same raid saw a number of other Lancasters crash in Yorkshire on their return and the raid and their losses became known as Black Thursday.
Raymond Saunders was born on 26th June 1920 in Guildford, Western Australia. He enlisted on 26th April 1941 in Perth and after arriving in the UK and finishing his training he was posted to 464 Squadron on 20th September 1942, he was later transferred to 161 Squadron 9th March 1943 before returning to 464 Squadron on 11th April 1943. He had a brief spell at 22 OTU from 29th May 1943 and was posted to 432 Squadron on 14th July 1943.
Don Harmon was born in January 1917 in Banff, Canada. The accident detailed above occured on his third operational flight. He (and Sgt Leadley both) returned to operational flying with 432 Squadron and was involved in a number of further tricky situations. On 3rd January 1944 he was flying in Lancaster DS830 when the throttle to one engine jammed on the return to East Moor, the aircraft swung on landing and was slightly damaged. The following night he and his crew were back on Ops to Berlin and their aircraft was badly damaged, his pilot was awarded the DFC for returning them safely to the UK. In total he completed thirty two operational flights in total. Having survived the War he returned home to Canada and took over his father's photography buisness, Byron Harmon Photos. The company is still in buisness and their website "www.harmonphotography.com" shows many of his brilliant landscape photographs. He died in August 1997, he was eighty years old. It is likely that his brother Lloyd Moore Harmon (J/27622) also served in the RCAf and was Commended for Valuable Services with 435 Squadron on 1st January 1947. He too was born in Banff and enlisted in Calgary in April 1942. He amassed a huge number of hours in the air, some 1675 hours, of which 1100hrs were operational. He was also recommended for the AFC in April 1946, the draft for this reads.. "Flying Officer Harmon has been employed on transport duties since September 1944. Prior to joining this squadron in September 1945, he has been employed in the Middle East on transport routine services and supply dropping in the Balkans and Greece. He rendered further valuable service in India and on the Burma front on close support and supply dropping. Whilst on this unit he has been an inspiration to all by his skill and determination in carrying out schedule European services through the winter months, many of which were operated in extreme adverse weather conditions."
Wellington HZ484 was built to contract 92439/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd at Blackpool and delivered to 431 Squadron at Burn in April 1943. Later in 1943 it was subsequently transferred to 466 Squadron at Driffield and 300 Squadron at Ingham before arriving at 432 Squadron at East Moor in mid-September 1943. In the incident detailed above it sustained Cat.B/FB damage. It was taken away and repaired in works and on completion of repair it was issued to 84 OTU at Desborough in January 1944. It was written off in a Cat.E2/FA crash on 27th January 1944 when it dived into the ground on a training flight at Arthingworth, Northamptonshire. The aircraft completed three operational flights with 432 Squadron.