Wellington R1413 near Micklefield.
On the night of 30th September / 1st October 1941 this 304 Squadron aircraft had been used on an operational flight to bomb Hamburg, on the return flight they had landed at Finningley. During the morning of the 1st October 1941 the aircraft was to be flown the five miles back to Lindholme and the second pilot (from the operational sortie) along with a number of ground-crew were on board for the short flight. No fuel was put in the aircraft before take-off. Why the aircraft was so far away from the Finningley area is not known but later the same morning the aircraft ran out of fuel, after the crew became lost. The short hop of a flight between Finningley and Lindholme would hardly be any distance at all to become lost. It is possible the pilot took the three members of ground crew for a round-about route back to Lindholme and got themselves lost in the process. The aircraft was force-landed in a large field and close to a railway line between Micklefield and Garforth. It would appear to have pretty much stayed intact and the crew escaped serious injury with one member
possibly sustaining slight injuries. It remained in the field for some days before 60 M.U. recovered it, firstly it was taken up the field and nearer to Micklefield (probably so it was closer to the nearest road when the trailers became available). The aircraft was guarded in the field by a detachment of men from 70 Btn. West Yorkshire Regiment, stationed at Wetherby. The aircraft was later taken away, rebuilt and flew again.
Historians Ken Reast, Albert Pritchard and Eric Barton searched the large field with metal detectors for any trace of the aircraft with permission from the landowner in November 2006 but failed to find anything. They located eye witnesses to where the location of the landing was made and also where it was dragged to before removal.
Pilot - Sgt Alojzy Lozowicki PAF (P.782216).
Mechanic - Sgt Wladyslav Krzempek PAF (P.781622).
Mechanic - A/C Florian Polok PAF (P.780609).
Mechanic - LAC Edward Wrona PAF (P.782160). Slightly injured.
On 12th / 13th April 1942 Lozowicki was flying Ops to Essen in Wellington DV437 when the aircraft was attacked by an enemy night-fighter. He took evasive
and although the port engine failed the pilot was able to make a return to the UK but force-landed after the other engine overheated, he made a crash landing
near March, Cambridgeshire.
Research by Micklefield resident Mr Michael Baldwin and kindly supplied to me in 2007 adds extra information to the pilot. Mr Baldwin managed to contact
the pilot's son in the early 2000's. Sgt Lozowicki was born in May 1915. After the incident in April 1942 Lozowicki did not fly again with 304 Squadron and was posted to Blackpool in 1943 (which was a holding unit for aircrew). He certainly survived the War and may have received the Polish Virtuti Militari medal. After discharge from PAF/RAF service he remained in the UK, became a British subject and changed his name to Lawson.
Wellington R1413 was built to contract 992424/39 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Chester and was awaiting collection in November 1940. After a period of
MU storage from January to May 1941 it was taken on charge by 304 Squadron at Syerston on 9th May 1941 when the unit was building up to operational flying. It moved with the 304 Squadron to Lindholme on 19th July 1941. As a result of the forced landing at Micklefield on 1st October 1941 Cat.B/FA damage was recorded on the paperwork and the aircraft was taken away to be repaired in works at either Weybridge, Chester or Blackpool (although the aircraft's AM78 card states this was at Castle Bromwich only Spitfires were repaired there). By the time the repair was complete 304 Squadron left Lindholme on 10th May 1942 and
transferred from Bomber Command to Coastal Command moving to Tiree, they then moved to Dale (Pembrokeshire) on 15th June 1942 and when the aircraft was
returned to them on 31st July 1942 they were still based at Dale. On 16th October 1942 it failed to return from an anti-submarine patrol over the Bay of
Biscay and on that day the aircraft was operating out of Talbenny. It was shot down at 16.36hrs by a Ju88 of 13/KG 40 and its crew of six were all killed.
Cat.E(m) damage was recorded on the paperwork.