Wellington T2618 near Kellington / Whitley Bridge.
On the night of 15th / 16th November 1941 the crew in this 150 Squadron aircraft were one of four from the squadron that undertook an operational flight to bomb a target at Boulogne, this aircraft took off from Snaith airfield at 17.30hrs. The weather on their return to northern England must have been poorer than when they set out and the crew of Wellington T2618 landed safely at around 22.20hrs but mistook Elsham Wolds airfield in Lincolnshire for Snaith. On landing the pilot realised the mistake and immediately asked for permission to take off to return to their home airfield at Snaith. Permission was granted at 22.30hrs but the crew did not take off for nearly an hour. The aircraft then set off for the short flight at 23.25hrs. At 23.57hrs the Wellington was over Snaith airfield and while the visibility was reasonable at that time it soon deteriorated. Two attempts at landing were made but because of the visibility no landing was made. The crew requested that additional lighting was lit, with this done at 00.13hrs the crew stated that they could see the flare path so permission was given for them to land. They then turned off the radio receiver in the aircraft. The air pressure had also dropped lower but notification of this could not be broadcast to the crew as the radio had been switched off. The aircraft had flown to make a downwind approach to land but did not re-appear at the airfield. The crew had lowered the undercarriage and made an approach to land but unfortunately the aircraft wasn't been flown high enough and it was descended into the ground at 00.15hrs. With the wheels down the aircraft ran along the ground for 800 yards, became airborne again briefly and ran into various obstructions on the ground. The aircraft then caught fire but the crew all escaped. The whole crew sustained injuries but with the pilot's being the severest with facial abrasions and an injury to his nose. The accident was put down to a whole series of factors including the air pressure changing between the altimeter being set and when it crashed, the radio being turned off preventing word of the new pressure being received by the crew, the weather and the main factor was the crew waited nearly an hour at Elsham Wolds after receiving permission to take off and then actually taking off by which time the weather was beginning to worsen.
Pilot - P/O Stanley Gordon Leddra RAFVR (103489). Injured.
Second Pilot - Sgt Richard Bradburn Davenport RNZAF (404343).
Observer - Sgt Alexander James Baldwin RAFVR (1252087).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Leslie Charles Gray RAFVR (1174107).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner? - Sgt Denis Sydney Bright RAFVR (928064).
Air Gunner - Sgt Harry John Guy RAFVR (911823).
Richard Davenport's daughter Finola kindly contacted me in September 2012 and supplied a very detailed account of her father's life. Richard Davenport was born on 1st July 1918 in Te Kuiti, New Zealand, after leaving school he begun working
as a clerk at Dalgety and Co Ltd, Te Kuiti and studied accountancy. Richard learnt to fly in New Zealand at the outbreak of the war when a local solicitor offered any young man flying leasons who wished to join the RNZAF. He enlisted into the RNZAF
on 20th November 1940 and after initial training left for Canada in May 1941. He was then posted to England in July 1941 after further training, arriving at 11 OTU at Bassingbourn on 19th July 1941. He was posted to 150 Squadron on 8th October 1941 with whom he served until 31st July 1942 had flown in 37 operational flights, completing 27 bombing operations and two mine laying flights. After service with 150 Squadron he went down the route of training as a flying instructor, his initial posting was to 12 OTU but on 3rd September 1942 he was posted to No.3 Flying Instructor School at Castle Combe then back to 12 OTU a month later where he served until January 1945. He received a commission to the rank of P/O on 11th July 1943 and was promoted to F/O on 11th January 1944. Post-war he returned to New Zealand and went back to a civilian life. He retired in 1979 and died
in Te Kuiti in November 1992.
During his time with 150 Squadron he was involved in a number of flying accidents. The first was the one detailed at the top of this
page on 16th November 1941 to Wellington T2618 near Kellington. His daughter kindly adds that his next flight was on 30th November 1941
which turned out to be the first of 106 seperate flights with P/O Owen Morgan over the coming months; both non-operational and operational.
On 25th March 1942 he was second pilot of Wellington X3175 which undertook an operational flight to bomb Essen, the aircraf tsustained minor
flak damage though the crew were able to return safely to base. X3175 was found to have received nine holes from flak upon inspection at
base but cannot have been seriously damaged as he was again it's second pilot three days later on Ops to St.Nazaire. On 6th May 1942 he was
the pilot of Wellington X3451 that crashed near Askern on return from bombing Stuttgart (detailed on
it's own webpage. Just eight days after this serious
crash he married Celia Jones in Goole and Harry Guy was his bestman. Post-war he returned to New Zealand and went back to a civilian life.
He retired in 1979 and died in Te Kuiti in November 1992.
Wellington T2618 was built to contract B.38600/39 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Weybridge and was awaiting collection in July 1940. It was allotted to 46 MU on 14th July 1940 and issued to them on 20th July 1940. After a short period of MU storage it was taken on charge by 150 Squadron at Newton on 3rd October 1940 when the unit began converting from Battle MkI's to Wellington MkIc's. It appears to have sustained some form of accident or damage on or just before 31st March 1941. On that date it was assessed as being slightly damaged by 43 Group D.A. which then required a repair on site (probably at Newton). On 8th April 1941 it was fairly extensively damaged on an operational flight after it was struck by flak. The bombs would not close, the hydraulic stsmen damage which caused the flaps and undercarriage to fail. It appears that a belly landing was made on return to Newton and that this only required a repair on site. In both cases Cat.Ac damage was probably the damage assessment each time although the aircraft's AM Form 78 doesn't either specifically. 150 Squadron moved to Snaith on 10th July 1941. As a result of this accident near Kellington on 16th November 1941 Cat.E2/FA damage was the damage assessment and it was written off.
Stanley Leddra was born in the Bromley area of Kent in 1921, he received a commission to P/O on probation, from the rank
of Sergeant on 12th May 1941. He did not fly again following this incident after suffering head injuries and after making a
recovery he returned to civilian duties. He died in 1998 in the Bournemouth area of Dorset. I thank his grand daughter for
contacting me in June 2012 and for the additional information she was able to provide this account.
Sgt Gray was lost on 9th June 1942 flying in 150 Squadron Wellington X3725 on Ops to Essen. He was twenty one years old and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
Alexander Baldwin was awarded the DFM for service with 150 Squadron (Gazetted on 27th October 1942) for making 36 operational flights. The citation for his DFM reads.. "This airman has made 36 attacks over Germany and the occupied countries. On one occasion during an operation at Brest his aircraft was badly damaged and members of the crew were wounded. The successful completion of this flight was due to the resourcefulness and initiative of Sgt Baldwin." He had received a commission before the DFM was awarded on 18th August 1942, and rose to F/O on 18th February 1943. The London Gazette does
not list his F/Lt promotion, his rank may have actually been Acting F/Lt at the time of his death on 17th May 1944, aged 33. At the time of his
death he was flying with 571 Squadron and is buried in Wandsworth Cemetery, London. He was the navigator on Mosquito ML988 which crashed while
attempting to land at Oakington airfield.
Henry Guy received a commission in June 1942 and he survived the War.