Halifax W7751 damaged by flak, returned to East Moor airfield.

On 2nd October 1942 this aircraft was hit by flak on a raid on Krefeld after the aircraft was coned in searchlights for five minutes while over the target and damaged was sustained to the pilot's escape hatch (which was blown off) and the tailplane and mid upper turret being holed. The pilot was able to make the return flight to East Moor and effect a safe landing.

Pilot - Sgt Gordon Shotton Hughes RAFVR (1292129), of Dagenham, Essex.

Second Pilot - P/O Gerald Bevill Herbert RAFVR (116456), of Theale, Berkshire.

Flight Engineer - Sgt Alfred Anderson RAFVR (938999), of Glasgow.

Navigator - Sgt Lloyd Denzil Clark RNZAF (404894), of Auckland, New Zealand.

Bomb Aimer - Sgt William Edward Ernest Priddin RCAF (R/74230), of Saugus, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Jack De-la-War Anstruther RAFVR (1376882), of Harrow, Middlesex.

Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt Henry Falls-Hand RAFVR (1304703).

Rear Gunner - Sgt North ? (A or J North ?). Possibly Leonard J North RAFVR (1195307).

Many of those named above had survived a night fighter attack on 26th September 1942 and were able to return to East Moor. P/O Hughes, Sgt Anderson and F/Sgt Clark were lost when Halifax W7862 failed to return from Ops to Genova on 23rd October 1942. The aircraft is believed to have crashed in the English Channel. Their bodies were never found and they are commemerated on the Runnymede Memorial. Hughes was aged twenty, Anderson and Clark (pictured above) were both aged twenty seven.

Gordon Hughes had received his commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) on 18th October 1942.

Lloyd Clark was born around 1915 in or near Cambridge, New Zealand, he enlisted there in 1940. The photograph of him shown above was found elsewhere on the internet.

Sgt Anstruther was killed on 17th November 1942 while serving with 158 Squadron, he was flying in Halifax W7863 on a nickel flight and was shot down by Luftwaffe pilot Heinrich Wohlers. He was thirty years old and his buried in Consigny Communal Cemetery, France. A memorial marks the site of the crash near Consigny, France.
WO2 William Priddin was lost on 28th April 1943 when Halifax HR773 went missing on a minelaying Op. He was twenty three years old.
F/O Gerald Herbert was killed with 158 Squadron on 14th February 1943, aged 20, when Halifax DT696 crashed soon after taking off near Stillingfleet, Yorkshire. This accident is detailed on this website. He was the son of Commodore Philip Herbert and Gwendolin Hughes Herbert and nephew of Colonel G.N. Herbert and E Herbert, of Theale. His brothers Richard Vivian Herbert and Philip Wynne Herbert also died on service, both were in the RAF and both Philip and Gerald Herbert share the same grave. Gerald Herbert was born in Kensington, London in 1923. He received his commission on 5th December 1941 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) and rose to F/O on probation (war subs) on 1st October 1942. His father Philip Herbert was one of the earliest members of the RFC and obtained his RAeC Certificate in July 1912.
The only airman with the surname North believed to have flown with 158 Squadron was a Leonard Jesse North (1195307). He was awarded the DFC for service with 35 Squadron on 19th May 1944 in the rank of Warrant Officer and was later commissioned. 35 Squadron were with the Pathfinder Force by this stage in the war and were using experienced aircrew. It is possible that he was indeed the same airman as involved in this incident at the top of this page but more information is required to confirm it.
Henry Falls-Hand was born in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffordshire in 1915. He had already completed his Tour by October 1942 when the some of the rest of his crew were killed (as detailed above). He received his commission on 6th May 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) and was awarded the DFC for service with 158 Squadron, Gazetted on 14th September 1943. He survived the War and remained in the RAF at least until 1947 and then set up a greengrocery buisness in Manchester before moving to Southport. He died in December 2009. His obituary on the internet states that he completed forty operational flights and refers to him surviving two bad crashes. He also served as an instructor after completing his Tour. He was injured only once when he fell off the back of a lorry returning him to base when he broke his arm.
Halifax W7751 was built to contract B73328/40 by Handley Page Ltd at Radlett and delivered directly to 158 Squadron at East Moor during the second week of June 1942 and was used in 158 Squadron's first operational night from East Moor on 25th June 1942. It sustained Cat.A(c)/FB damage on 10th September 1942 and was repaired on site, with repair being completed by 26th September 1942. It was again damaged on Ops (detailed above) and sustained Cat.A(c)/FB on 2nd October 1942 and was again repaired on site. The repair was completed by 6th October 1942. It was lost as Cat.E(m) on 9th January 1943 when it failed to return from Gardening as a result of being shot down by flak and crashing near Bryndun, Denmark, with the lost of seven of its eight crew.