Halifax DT574 at Linton on Ouse airfield.

On 8th December 1942 this 76 Squadron aircraft overshot on landing at Linton on Ouse airfield on return from a mine laying flight at 22.00hrs. The aircraft was badly damaged and was not repaired. None of the crew are believed to have been injured.

Pilot - Sgt George Albert Griffiths RAFVR (1212300).

? - Sgt D A Kidby (Probably Bomb Aimer - Sgt Dennis Alfred Kidby RAFVR (1391158)).

Navigator - Sgt Ralph Arnett RAF (657439).

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner? - P/O John Alexander Simpson Wood RAFVR (119329).

? - Sgt R Wilson.

? - Sgt L D Pope (Probably Sgt Louis Donald Pope RAF (572432)).

Air Gunner - Sgt O Cowley.

Halifax DT574 was built by English Electric Co.Ltd and was taken on charge by 76 Squadron on 27th October 1942. Following the crash on 10th December 1942 the damage was initially assessed as being Cat.E/FB but it appears to have considered for repair as the aircraft's AM Form 78 has a scrubbed out Re-Cat.B damage assessment. It was then struck off charge on 29th December 1942.
Sgt Griffiths and Ralph Arnett were both awarded the DFM for service with 76 Squadron, both Gazetted on 14th May 1943. Griffiths' citation reads.. "This airman has displayed skill and courage as captain of aircraft during many attacks on heavily defended enemy targets, such as Berlin, Cologne, Essen and Hamburg. He has often encountered arduous weather conditions, heavy icing and enemy opposition, but, in spite of the hazardous nature of many of his flights, he has achieved a high proportion of success."

George Griffiths received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) 13th February 1943 and later to F/O (war subs) on 13th August 1943 and later to F/Lt on 13th February 1945. F/O Griffiths was later posted to 102 Squadron, on 10th January 1944 he was the pilot of Halifax LW337 on Ops to bomb Berlin when the aircraft was shot down by flak over Germany with the loss of some of the crew. F/O Griffiths became a PoW. This incident hit the national news in 2008 after another member of the crew, Reg Wilson, re-discovered the crash site and human remains there which were identified as being the remains of Sgt John Bremner. George Griffiths died in 1998.

Sgt Arnett's DFM citation was very similiar to that of his then captain and it reads.. "As navigator, Sgt Arnett has completed 29 operational sorties, participating in attacks against the enemy's most heavily defended targets, including Berlin, Essen, Hamburg, Duisburg and Cologne."
The D A Kidby was possibly one Dennis Alfred Kidby RAFVR (1391158) and if so then he was posted to 75 Squadron by July 1944. On 30th July 1944 WO Kidby was flying in Lancaster HK558 when the aircraft failed to return from Ops to Amaye supporting the D-Day advances. He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial and was twenty two years old.

P/O Wood was posted from 76 Squadron to 1422 FTU on 25th March 1943.

Sgt Cowley was posted from 1652 HCU to 76 Squadron on 18th November 1942 and then to 78 Squadron on 29th May 1943. In July 1943 he appears to have been taken off operational flying.

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