Wellington W5488 at Pocklington airfield, bombed by enemy aircraft on ground.
At 22.50hrs on 22nd August 1941 Pocklington airfield was attacked by a lone enemy aircraft and a number of small bombs were dropped on the airfield. One Wellington was
struck by bomb fragments as it was about to take off for an operational flight to bomb Le Havre on a "fresher" operation. Damage was sustained to the
I.F.F. unit so it did not take off.
Pilot - P/O Ernest Miller Watts RAF (62020), of Westerhope, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Crew - Not listed in unit ORB. Names unknown.
Ernest Watts received a commission on 10th March 1941 to the rank of P/O on probation. Only days after this incident at Pocklington he was back in
the same aircraft on Ops on 28th / 29th August 1941 when he and his then crew were flying in the repaired Wellington W5488 on Ops to Duisburg. The
aircraft was hit by flak which damaged the front of the aircraft and one of the engines, some of the crew were able to bale out before the aircraft
crashed but sadly he and three members of his then crew died but two survived and became PoWs. Ernest Watts was twenty seven years old and is buried
in Rheinberg War Cemetery.
Wellington W5488 was built to contract B.71441/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Weybridge and was awaiting collection in March 1941. It's AM Form 78 appears to say it received Cat.Ac damage on 7th March 1941 which pre-dates it being delivered to the RAF. It was received by 33 MU on 12th April 1941 and was then taken on charge by the newly formed 405 Squadron at Driffield on 26th May 1941. It moved with the unit
to Pocklington airfield on 20th June 1941 and as a result of the damage on 22nd August 1941 minor Cat.A/FB damage would have been recorded. It was repaired on
site quickly as it was lost on 29th August 1941 when it failed to return from Ops to Duisburg (with P/O Watts flying it). Cat.Em damage was then
recorded on the paperwork and it was written off.