Halifax W7751 damaged by flak, returned to East Moor airfield.

On the evening of 2nd October 1942 this 158 Squadron aircraft took off from East Moor airfield at 18.27hrs for an operational flight to attack Krefeld. The aircarft was hit by flak after it was coned in searchlights for five minutes while over the target area and damage was sustained to the pilot's escape hatch (which was blown off), the tailplane and mid upper turret. The crew released their bombs from 13,000 feet at 20.41hrs. The pilot was able to make the return flight to East Moor and effect a safe landing at 00.15hrs.

Pilot - Sgt Gordon Shotton Hughes RAFVR (1292129).

Second Pilot - P/O Gerald Bevill Herbert RAFVR (116456).

Flight Engineer - Sgt Alfred Anderson RAFVR (938999).

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

Bomb Aimer - Sgt William Edward Ernest Priddin RCAF (R/74230).

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Jack De-la-War Anstruther RAFVR (1376882).

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

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

Many of those named above had survived a night fighter attack on 26th September 1942 and were able to return to East Moor. 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 commemerated 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.

Lloyd Clark was born around 1915 in or near Cambridge, New Zealand, he enlisted there in 1940. The photograph of him shown above was found elsewhere on the internet.

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 Luftwaffe pilot 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.
WO2 William Priddin was lost on 28th April 1943 when Halifax HR773 went missing on a minelaying Op. He was twenty three years old. His parents were from Saugus, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
F/O Gerald Herbert was killed with 158 Squadron on 14th February 1943, aged 20, when Halifax DT696 crashed soon after taking off near Stillingfleet, Yorkshire. This accident is detailed on this website. He was the son of Commodore Philip Herbert and Gwendolin Hughes Herbert and nephew of Colonel G.N. Herbert and E Herbert, of Theale. His brothers Richard Vivian Herbert and Philip Wynne Herbert also died on service, both were in the RAF and both Philip and Gerald Herbert share the same grave. Gerald Herbert was born in Kensington, London in 1923. He received his commission on 5th December 1941 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) and rose to F/O on probation (war subs) on 1st October 1942. His father Philip Herbert was one of the earliest members of the RFC and obtained his RAeC Certificate in July 1912.
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.

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 his 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.
Halifax W7751 was built to contract B73328/40 by Handley Page Ltd at Radlett. It was delivered directly to 158 Squadron at East Moor on 17th June 1942 and was used in 158 Squadron's first operational night from East Moor on 25th June 1942. It sustained Cat.A/FB damage as a result of battle damage on 10th / 11th September 1942 and was repaired on site. It was again damaged on Ops on 3rd October 1942 and sustained Cat.A/FB which saw it again repaired on site with it completed by 6th October 1942. It was lost on 9th January 1943 when it failed to return from a minelaying flight and crashed near Bryndun, Denmark, with the loss of seven of the eight crew. Cat.E(m) damage was the damage assessment back in the UK and the aircraft was struck off charge on 9th January 1943.

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