Halifax W1246 damaged by a night-fighter, returned to East Moor airfield.

On the night of 26th / 27th September 1942 this 158 Squadron aircraft was detailed to attack Flensburg which it did successfully having taken off from East Moor around 20.00hrs. On the return leg it was attacked by a twin engined night-fighter which caused severe damaged to port tailplane and the fuel tanks also holed. The attacker was driven off by the rear gunner of the Halifax and landed safely back at East Moor at 01.45hrs.

Pilot - Sgt Gordon Shotton Hughes RAFVR (1292129).

Navigator - Sgt Lloyd Denzil Clark RNZAF (NZ.404894).

Flight Engineer - Sgt Alfred Anderson RAFVR (938999).

Bomb Aimer - Sgt James Sangster Anderson RCAF (R/92560).

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Henry Falls-Hand RAFVR (1304703).

Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt Jack De-la-War Anstruther RAFVR (1376882).

Rear Gunner - Sgt Leonard Jesse North RAFVR (1195307).

Halifax W1246 was built to contract B982938/39 by English Electric Co.Ltd at Samlesbury and was delivered directly to 158 Squadron at East Moor on 6th August 1942. It received battle damage on 27th September 1942 that saw a Cat.Ac/FB damage assessment. It was repaired on site and returned to 158 Squadron on 11th October 1942. On 3rd November 1942 it received a Cat.B/FB damage assessment when it landed at Boscombe Down during an operational flight and the undercarriage collapsed. A repair in works by Handley Page was then carried out and on completion of the repairs it was received by 12 MU on 4th February 1943. Here the AM Form 78 states it was held in store for a year. The aircraft was then taken on charge by 1656 Heavy Conversion Unit on 18th February 1944. It was transferred to 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit at Blyton on 24th February 1944. On 27th March 1944 the aircraft swung on take off at Blyton and the undercarriage collapsed. Cat.E1/FA damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge on 1st April 1944.
P/O Hughes, Sgt Anderson and F/Sgt Clark were lost when Halifax W7862 failed to return from Ops to Genova on 23rd October 1942. The aircraft is believed to have crashed in the English Channel. Their bodies were never found and they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Hughes was aged twenty, Anderson and Clark were both aged twenty seven.

Gordon Hughes had received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) on 18th October 1942.

Sgt Anstruther was killed on 17th November 1942 while serving with 158 Squadron, he was flying in Halifax W7863 on a nickel flight and was shot down by Heinrich Wohlers. He was thirty years old and his buried in Consigny Communal Cemetery, France. A memorial marks the site of the crash near Consigny, France.
Henry Falls-Hand was born in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffordshire in 1915. He had already completed his Tour by October 1942 when the some of the rest of his crew were killed (as detailed above). He received a commission on 6th May 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) and was awarded the DFC for service with 158 Squadron, Gazetted on 14th September 1943. He survived the War and remained in the RAF at least until 1947 and then set up a greengrocery buisness in Manchester before moving to Southport. He died in December 2009. His obituary on the internet states that he completed forty operational flights and refers to him surviving two bad crashes. He also served as an instructor after completing his Tour. He was injured only once when he fell off the back of a lorry returning him to base when he broke his arm.
My initial research into Sgt North flying was limited, the only airman with the surname North believed to have flown with 158 Squadron was a Leonard Jesse North. He was awarded the DFC for service with 35 Squadron on 19th May 1944 in the rank of Warrant Officer. 35 Squadron were with the Pathfinder Force by May 1944 in the war and were using experienced aircrew and he was clearly a very able member of aircrew. No citation for his DFC has yet been located.

In September 2012 I was contacted by Mr Edward North, son of Sgt North, who kindly confirmed that my assumption was indeed correct and he flew with 158 Squadron. He was able to add further details about his father's service. He joined the RAF on his eighteenth birthday in 1940 from a reserved occupation because the restriction on joining the forces from reserved occupations was relaxed for the RAF by that date. After training he was initially posted to 104 Squadron in late 1941/early 1942. Part of 104 Squadron formed the neucleus of 158 Squadron on it's formation and he was one of their numbers that transferred. He first flew with 158 Squadron on an airtest on 9th February 1942 and three days later on an operational flight to bomb the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. He converted to fly the Halifax and completed his first Tour with 158 Squadron with his last flight being on 28th November 1942. He was posted immediately to 35 Squadron and first flew with them on 8th December 1942. He completed a second Tour but refused to stand down from flying operationally, he took a transfer into the Second Tactical Air Force serving with 88 Squadron until it disbanded on 1st April 1945. He received his commission on 5th December 1944 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) (191131) and rose to F/O (war subs) on 5th June 1945. By the end of his service he was in the rank of Acting S/Ldr and in total he flew a remarkable number of 88 operational flights.

F/Sgt James Anderson was seriously injured on 14th October 1942 when Halifax W7766 crashed on landing at East Moor on return from Ops to Kiel. He died from his injuries three days later in Fulford Military Hospital, York and is buried in Fulford Cemetery.

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