Lancaster KB842 damaged on Ops, landed at Carnaby airfield.
On the evening of 6th March 1945 the crew of this 434 Squadron aircraft were tasked with flying an operational flight to bomb Chemnitz and took off from Croft airfield at 16.35hrs. Unforecast extreme weather presented a problem to some of the more southern No.6 Group's aircraft over the York area soon after they took off and saw a number ice up, control be lost and then crashes occur. These weather conditions did not present Croft based aircraft a problem as they set out. The crew of KB842 flew to Chemnitz and released their bomb load from 16.500 feet at 21.54hrs over what was believed to be the target area. Owing to thick cloud the crew reported that they could not locate the exact target area but, on the orders of the master bomber, released their load onto the glow of fires burning beneath the cloud.
Two minutes after releasing their bomb load Halifax NR180 flew into the rear of Lancaster KB842. The story of Halifax NR180 I have given below. It's crew were taking evasive action to try and shake off the attention of a Junkers Ju88 that had already made one attack on it. The collision resulted in minor damage to the rear turret of the Lancaster and it's operation was restricted. The Ju88 was following the Halifax but in seeing the Lancaster it then attacked this aircraft with 20mm cannon fire. This damaged the starboard elevator, fin and rudder, starboard mainplane near inner engine and it's cowling, the starboard wheel and it's tyre were damaged and hydraulic lines also received some damage. The Lancaster's gunners returned fire and strikes were seen on the Ju88 fuselage, it was seen to stall and then disappear, but was later claimed as damaged rather than destroyed. The pilot lost control of the damaged Lancaster but managed to regain control and the crew flew it back to England, crash landing at Carnaby at 03.30hrs. The crew appear to have remained at Carnaby until 7th March 1945 when they returned to Croft by rail.
Pilot - P/O John C Kitchen RCAF (J/88996).
Navigator - Sgt F.Doug. Reid RCAF (R/177372).
Bomb Aimer - F/O C.F.H. Fiori RCAF (J/38794).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - P/O John Rebman RCAF (J/90751).
Air Gunner - Sgt Glen Allan Heisler RCAF (R/254237).
Air Gunner - Sgt R. R. Higgs RCAF (R/257859).
Flight Engineer - Sgt A. W. Corbett RAFVR (3050591)
This crew were posted in to 434 Squadron on 12th November 1944. The 434 Squadron ORB lists Lancaster KB842 as next flying operationally on 22nd March 1945 with the same Kitchen crew. I would suggest that this is an error. KB842 was so badly damged that after assessment it was deemed beyond repair. Lancaster KB880 appears to have been the replacement aircraft and carried the "Wl-L"
The story of 192 Squadron Halifax NR180 deserves some mention on this webpage despite having no link to Yorkshire. The story has been well documented in the past, both in book form and on the internet. This crew had also just been over the Chemnitz target area when the rear gunner noticed an approaching attacking aircraft so informed the pilot who took evasive action. The Halifax was put into a diving corkscrew turn but was followed by the Junkers Ju88 which opened fire, the Halifax was hit in the port wing. As the Halifax pulled out of the dive and began to climb the pilot noticed a Lancaster (KB842) in front of them but had no time to avoid a collision. The collision slightly damaged the rear turret of the Lancaster but it did severe damage to the Halifax, it removed around five feet of the nose of the aircraft and destroyed all the cockpit flying instruments. Fearing control would be lost the crew were ordered to prepare to bale out but the pilot found that he could fly the aircraft, albeit it with it being port wing heavy. The Ju88 appears to have finished attacking the Lancaster at this point and returned to attack Halifax NR180 again. What damage occurred is yet to be learnt but this cannot have been too serious. The pilot found that the aircraft was still flyable so rescinded the prepare to bale out instruction. His main problem was that at the height they were flying the cold combined with the wind was blowing into the cockpit. This presented the pilot with the choice that he was unlikely to be able to fly the aircraft back to the UK. Reaching Russian lines was the nearer option so he directed the aircraft over Poland and ordered the crew to the rear of the aircraft where it was slightly warmer. Once it was thought that they were over Russian held territory the crew in the rear of the aircraft baled out, having had to chop open the frozen rear entrance door. The crew landed safely although some ended up landing in German lines and were taken PoW. Two evaded capture. The pilot's legs and arms were too cold to bale out and he tried to force land the aircraft. He made a crash landing near Myslenice, in Southern Poland and became a guest of Russian forces.