Halifax W7667 damaged by flak, returned to Leeming airfield.
In the early hours of 30th May 1942 the crew on board this 10 Squadron aircraft were given the task of bombing the Goodrich
rubber factory and the Gnome Rhone aero engine factory at Gennevilliers, Paris and left Leeming airfield at 00.06hrs. A flak burst
near the aircraft while over the target made a hole in the bomb aimers window at the front of the aircraft and struck the observer.
Further damage was sustained to three of the port fuel tanks and the port outer engine oil tank was also damaged. The crew made a
safe return to land at Leeming at 06.06hrs. The squadron ORB stated that the observer was not injured.
Pilot - WO Eos Clwydfryn Lloyd RAF (522279).
Bomb Aimer - Sgt G R Kent.
Observer - F/Sgt Darby.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt William Norman Guertin RCAF (R/68183).
Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt R Dill.
Rear Gunner - Sgt Ruane.
Flight Engineer - Sgt James Woods Thain RAF (568996).
On 5th/6th November 1942 F/Sgt Guertin was flying in Halifax W7671 when an engine caught fire soon after taking off, his then pilot initially instructed his crew to abandon the aircraft and two of the crew complied but the fire then went out and after dumping the bombload the aircraft, complete with the rest of the crew including F/Sgt Guertin, landed safely at base of Fayid. The two airmen who had baled out survived and later returned to their unit. On 10th/11th November 1942 F/Sgt Guertin was flying operationally in Halifax DT498 when the aircraft was hit and badly damaged by flak in the Tobruk area. With the aircraft on fire the order to abandon it was given and three of the crew including F/Sgt Guertin survived. Sadly three other members of his then crew died. F/Sgt Guertin probably landed in the sea as one of the other survivors reportedly swam four miles to the African coast and after hiding for four days was eventually picked up by Allied troops. Guertin was captured and spent the rest of the War as a PoW.
F/Sgt Thain was not involved in F/Sgt Guertin's two 462 Squadron incidents and flew with this unit until Christmas 1942 when the unit received orders that all existing aircrew with 462 Squadron were instructed to return to the UK as all were classed as Tour Expired aircrew (all were deemed to have completed their operational tours in North Africa). 462 Squadron re-equipped with new aircrew in January 1943. F/Sgt Thain's new unit or later postings are not known. Sgt Thain may have been James Wood Thain RAF (568996) and if so then he received his commission on 27th April 1944 (54584) to the rank of Acting P/O on probation (emergency) in the Technical Branch of the RAF. He was graded as P/O on probation on 7th September 1944 and was promoted to F/O (war subs) on 7th March 1945. He remained in the RAF after the war taking the rank of F/O and was later promoted to F/Lt on 11th May 1948. He was appointed to a permanent commission of F/Lt in the Technical Branch on 16th May 1952.
Sgt Ruane may well have been a Sgt Patrick Joseph Ruane RAF (546586) who was an air gunner and who was serving with 619 Squadron in June 1943 when, on 15th June 1943 he was flying in Lancaster ED980 on Ops to Oberhausen when the aircraft was attacked and shot down by a night-fighter over Holland. All were killed and Sgt Ruane is buried in Eindhoven General Cemetery. CWGC lists no personal information for him but his name is listed on the Gzira War Memorial in Malta and that an Ancestry.com forum posting from what would appear to have been made by his grandchild suggests that he was Irish and had married a Maltese lady during the war. This Patrick Ruane may however be a totally different person to the Sgt Ruane who had served with 10 Squadron in 1942!!
Halifax W7667 was built to contract B.73328/40 by Handley Page Ltd., at Radlett and was awaiting collection on 14th April 1942. It was taken on charge on 22nd April 1942. As a result of the battle damage to W7667 on 30th May 1942 minor Cat.A/FB damage was the assessment and it was repaired on site. On the night of 5th / 6th June 1942 it was being flown on an operational flight when the oil pressure failed on the port outer engine, it's crew jettisoned the bomb load in the North Sea and made a return to base and landed at Leeming at 04.10hrs. No damage is listed in the 10 Squadron orb however the aircraft's AM Form 78 states that it received a Cat.Ac/FB on this date. After a repair on site it was returned to 10 Squadron on 27th July 1942. On 19th August 1942 it moved with the unit to Melbourne. On 2nd October 1942 it failed to return from Ops to Flensburg. Cat.Em damage was recorded on the paperwork and it was struck off chage on 4th October 1942.
F/Sgt Eos Lloyd, F/Sgt William Guertin and Sgt Thain were part of the 10 Squadron contingent that were sent on detachment to North Africa in Mid-1942 and were flying together on Ops in July 1942 with 10/227 Squadron based at Fayid. On the flight there on Later in the year Guertin and Thain were posted to join 462 Squadron on its formation in North Africa but Lloyd does not appear to have joined this new unit and his further postings are not known. Thain and Guertin flew operationally with 462 Squadron in October and November 1942.
Sgt Kent had already survived the ditching of Halifax R9374 on 30th December 1941 but nothing more is known about him or any of the others without full names in the list above.