Wellington HZ484 (possibly) damaged by a night-fighter, returned to East Moor airfield.
During the evening of 8th October 1943 this 432 Squadron Wellington took off from East Moor airfield for an operational flight to bomb Hannover in what would be one of the heaviest attacks on the German city in the whole of the War. On their return leg of the flight at 01.35hrs this aircraft was attacked by a Junkers Ju88, the crew of the Wellington shook off the attacker but later it was attacked for a second time by another enemy aircraft. The rear gunner of the Wellington returned fire and scored hits. The enemy aircraft was seen to crash with fire coming from it's port engine. The Wellington was able to return to East Moor and land in the early hours without further incident. The rear gunner's combat report has been sourced and adds a lot of information, it is available in the UK National Archives should anyone be interested in obtaining it.
Pilot - FO William Charles Fisher USAAF (T-0190910).
Navigator - Sgt James Stuart Briegel RCAF (R/113427), of Olds, Alberta, Canada.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Thomas Walter Pragnell RAFVR (1219197), of Northampton.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt Montague Anthony Thomas Brudell RAAF (413340), of Sydney, Australia.
Rear Gunner - W/O Raymond Kenneth Saunders RAAF (406814). of East Guildford, Western Australia.
Second Pilot - P/O Lawrence Firge Legace RCAF (J/22893), of Fort William, Ontario, Canada.
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.
James Briegel was born on 9th March 1915 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada and was the son of Francis James and Bella Niven Briegel (nee Nicol). After attending school in Olds, Saskatchewan he trained at buisness college, and in 1935 began working as a book-keeper and stockroom keeper for motor vehicle parts company. He initially tried to enlist into the RCAF in 1940 but was unsucessful at his first attempt. He was then sucessful in enlisting the second time on 23rd July 1941 in Edmonton, Alberta. After basic training in Canada he qualified as an air observer and was awarded his flying badge on 23rd May 1943. He left Canada for service overseas in late October 1942 and arrived in the UK on 4th November 1943. His postings in the UK were slightly more varied than most. His first flying unit on arrival in the UK was to 464 Squadron on 16th December 1942 before a brief posting to 161 (Special Duties) Squadron on 9th March 1942 and returning to 464 Squadron on 11th April 1943. He then received a posting to 22 OTU on 29th May 1943 and was then posted to 432 Squadron on 14th July 1943 then at Skipton on Swale.
Wellington HZ484 was built to contract 92439/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd at Blackpool and was delivered to 431 Squadron at Burn in April 1943. Later in 1943 it was subsequently transferred to 466 Squadron at Driffield and then 300 Squadron at Ingham before arriving at 432 Squadron in September 1943. On the night of 8th / 9th October 1943 (following the incident detailed above) a combat report filed by one of the crew stated it was not damaged but the published Air Britain records drawn from the AM Form 78 state that it sustained Cat.B/FB damage and from East Moor it was taken away and repaired in works. Whether this was actually the case is open to debate; the combat report states it was not damaged and it may have sustained very minor Cat.A damage with this was not known to the air gunner when he filed his combat report, but, if this was the case it would probably not have been taken away for repair off site but probably repaired on site at East Moor. I speculate that the aircraft was repaired at East Moor in mid-October 1943 and flown out of 432 Squadron soon after this incident as 432 Squadron were converting to fly Lancasters by the end of the month. HZ484 was later issued to 84 OTU at Desborough in January 1944 and 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 just three operational flights with 432 Squadron.
On 16th December 1943 and on their ninth 432 Squadron operational flight William Fisher, F/Sgt Brundell, F/Sgt Pragnell, WO1 Briegel and WO Saunders were in Lancaster DS831 that failed to return from an operational flight 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. F/O Fisher is buried at Ardennes American Cemetery, Belgium. W/O Saunders (aged 22), WO1 Briegel (aged 28) and F/Sgt Pragnell (aged 23) are buried in Leeuwarden (Huizum) Protestant Churchyard. 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.
Lawrence Legace was born on 7th January 1920 in Biscotasing, Ontario, Canada and was the son of Joseph Philias and Florence Legace (nee Martel). The family moved to Fort William, Ontario in 1921 where he attended school. He enlisted for RCAF service on 26th January 1940 in Fort William and after basic training in Canada was awarded his Pilot's Wings and also received a commission on 22nd January 1943. On arrival in the UK in March 1943 he was initially posted to serve with the A.T.A. on 1st April 1943 and was attached to 7 F.P.P. during the rest of April 1943. He resumed the regular routine of Canadian aircrew training in early May 1943 when he was posted to 20 (P)AFU, 22 OTU on 13th July 1943, and to 1664 HCU on 30th September 1943. After this training he was posted to 432 Squadron on 2nd October 1943 but as 432 Squadron were just about to convert to fly Lancasters he was posted to convert to the type at 1679 HCU later in the month returning to 432 Squadron by the end of the following month. He was killed flying Lancaster LL724 with 432 Squadron on 21st January 1944 while flying as the captain of the aircraft and undertaking an operational flight to attack Magdeburg. The aircraft crashed near Wessndorf, Germany with the loss of the whole crew. He and other members of his then crew were initially buried in the local village cemetery. He is now buried in Hanover War Cemetery and was twenty four years old.