Wellington W5560 near Lindholme airfield.
On 22nd December 1941 the crew of this 405 Squadron aircraft were tasked with flying an operational flight to Wilhelmshaven and took off from Pocklington at 17.20hrs. Around an hour after taking off the starboard engine failed so the crew jettisoned the bomb load in the North Sea and returned to England. They were ordered to divert to land at Lindholme and made one approach to land, as they got close to landing many of the crew noticed that the way the flare path approach was lit appeared to be incorrect so decided to circle the airfield and ask for an explanation. As they began to make an overshoot the port engine then failed so at 19.55hrs the pilot turned the aircraft back over Lindholme airfield and crash landed. Minor injuries to three of the crew resulted and the aircraft was damaged.
Wellington W5560 was built to contract B.71441/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Weybridge and was awaiting collection in May 1941. It was collected by 23 M.U. on 29th May 1941 and after a short period of MU storage at Aldergrove it was taken on charge by 405 Squadron at Pocklington on 22nd June 1941. On 12th July 1941 it was reported as damaged to Cat.Ac status by 43 Group D.A. How this damage was sustained is not yet known. A repair on site was made and it was returned to 405 Squadron on 16th August 1941. As a result of the damage sustained on 22nd December 1941 at Lindholme Cat.E/FB damage was the damage assessment. It was struck off charge on 23rd December 1941 having clocked up 91 hours flying time in total.
Pilot - Sgt L S Mather RCAF (R/67951). Injured.
Second Pilot - Sgt Robert Neville Lonergan RAAF (404550). Injured.
Navigator - Sgt Allan Ross Skuthorp RAAF (407050). Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Joseph Dodds RAFVR (1002399).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt P/R J Campbell RCAF (R/56254).
Air Gunner - Sgt George Albert Tilley RAFVR (1378541).
Joseph Dodds was later posted to 158 Squadron. He was killed on 9th May 1942 in Wellington Z8439 on Ops and is buried in Berlin War Cemetery.
On 10th March 1942 F/Sgt Lonergan and Sgt George Tilley were flying in Wellington Z8428 on Ops to Essen and were lost without trace. Lonergan was 22,
Tilley's age is not known, both men are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Lonergan was born in Brisbane, Queensland in January 1920 and enlisted there, almost certainly in mid-1940.