On the night of 12th / 13th August 1941 the crew of this 405 Squadron aircraft were tasked with an operational flight to bomb Berlin and left base at 21.33hrs. Five 405 Squadron aircraft were successful in bombing the area around Frederickstrasse Station. On their return to base the aircraft brushed a tree on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds on approach to land at 04.02hrs at Pocklington and suffered very minor damage. It was later found that the altimeter had been inadvertantly set incorrectly.
Pilot - Sgt T F Dougall RAF (754661).
Second Pilot - Sgt Alexander Lawrence Dennis Hassan RCAF (R/61068).
? - Sgt John Lord RAFVR (955266).
? - Sgt Douglas Jobson Clayden RAFVR (901682).
? - Sgt J Emsley RAFVR (1252818).
Air Gunner - Sgt Charles Wilbert Forman RCAF (R/56586).
Dougall, Lord, Clayden, Emsley and Forman were flying together on 19th / 20th September 1941 when Wellington Z8344 failed to return from Ops to Stettin. All became PoW's. On 19th April 1945 Lord and Clayden were being force-marched when the PoW column was straffed by Allied fighters in what became known as the "Gresse" incident and both men died (Clayden on 19th April and Lord on 22nd April 1945). WO Clayden was twenty four years old and WO Lord was twenty six. Both are now buried in Berlin War Cemetery. I thank Graham Sharpe for the photographs of their gravestones.
Charles Forman's name was also spelt as "Foreman" in other news records of the day in Canada. He was twenty years old when he was posted missing and became a PoW.
Alexander Hassan was posted to 405 Squadron on 24th July 1941. On 7th/8th November 1941 he was the captain of Wellington W5553 tasked with Ops to Berlin, the aircraft crashed on the return with the loss of all of his then crew. He was thirty one years old and is buried in Becklingen War Cemetery. Prior to enlisting into the RCAF he was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Saskatchewan.
Wellington W5572 was built to contract B.71441/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Weybridge and was awaiting collection in June 1941. It was received by 38 MU on 15th June 1941 and was then taken on charge by 405 Squadron at Pocklington on 14th July 1941. It was slightly damaged on 13th August 1941 when it clipped a tree prior to landing at Pocklington. Minor damage resulted that a repaird on site started the following day with it returned to 405 Squadron on 30th August 1941. As a result of an accident at Linton on Ouse on 23rd October 1941 Cat.B/FB damage appears to have been the damage assessment but it was then repaired on site so this may have been downgraded to Cat.Ac/FA damage. The aircraft was returned to 405 Squadron on 6th December 1941. On 22nd March 1942 it was damaged when the aircraft landed heavily and the undercarriage collapsed. The initial assessment of the damage recorded Cat.Ac/FA damage though this was then upgraded on 30th March 1942 to Cat.B and it was transported to Vickers at Castle Bromwich for a repair in works. Once repaired the aircraft next appears on charge with 1443 (Ferry Training) Flight at Harwell in September 1942 and then transferred to 1 O.A.D.U. at Portreath in preparation for transfer overseas. On 23rd September 1942 it was flown out to the Middle East / North Africa to join 104 Squadron at Kabrit, Egypt who then moved around in the following months. Moving on 6th November 1942 to Luqa, Malta, on 6th February 1943 to Soluch, Libya and on 14th February 1943 to Gardabia Main, Libya. On 21st March 1943 it failed to return from an operational flight to Mareth-Kettana and was found to have suffered an engine failure and was ditched off Tripoli. The crew of seven survived but the aircraft was written off with Cat.E/FB damage being recorded.