On the night of 25th / 26th April 1942 the crew of this 460 Squadron aircraft were tasked with an operational flight and had left Breighton at 22.00hrs. After bombing the target this aircraft was attacked by a Messerschmitt Me110 at around 03.00hrs, the rear gunner returned fire and the enemy broke off his attack. He then returned below the Wellington but their gunners returned fire again, it again broke away but returned to fifty yards to the port side of the Wellington. The Wellington's gunners gave a long burst of fire at the Me110 and strikes were seen to hit the cockpit and engines of the enemy. The Me110 was next seen in a steep dive and with smoke coming from the engines it dived across the front of the Wellington, the Wellington's front gunner gave a long burst of fire at the aircraft and it continued in its dive and although a crash was not seen it was presumed to have crashed. The Wellington sustained many bullet holes but the pilot was able to land at base at 06.00hrs and none of the crew were injured. They claimed the Me110 as destroyed.
Pilot - Sgt Solomon Levitus RAAF (402910), of Rose Bay, New South Wales, Australia.
Second Pilot - Sgt Allan Francis McKinnon RAAF (407531), of Myrtle Bank, South Australia.
Navigator - Sgt Hugh Rowell Brodie RAAF (400524), of East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt L R Clarke.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Robert George Dunlop Read RCAF (R/69516), of Birch Cliff, Ontario, Canada.
Rear Gunner - Sgt George Viner RAAF (407210), of Adelaide, South Australia.
Wellington Z1384 was built to contract B.97887/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Hawarden, Chester and was awaiting collection in November 1941. 45 MU at Kinloss initially received the aircraft on 22nd November 1941 and it was taken on charge by 460 Squadron on 13th December 1941 who were then based at Molesworth. They then moved to Breighton on 4th January 1942. As a result of the minor battle damage sustained on 26th April 1942 Cat.A/FB was the assessment and it was repaired on site. The aircraft's AM Form 78 lists a repair on site being started by a team from Fairfields on 1st May 1942 and it was then returned to 460 Squadron on 13th June 1942 once complete. The aircraft then sustained further battle damage on 8th / 9th September 1942 and then caught fire on 13th September 1942 when the engines were being run-up at Breighton. Neither incident is listed on the AM Form 78. 460 Squadron converted from Wellingtons to Lancasters in October 1942 so their Wellingtons were flown elsewhere, Z1384 was taken on charge by 301 Squadron on 14th October 1942 and was later transferred to 305 Squadron on 2rd April 1943. On 6th January 1944 it was passed to 23 MU at Aldergrove where it was placed in storage. On 25th March 1944 it suffered another engine fire while it was being started, this time at Aldergrove and after which it was not repaired. Cat.E2/GA damage was the assessment and it was struck off charge.
Hugh Brodie (pictured above) was born on 19th February 1942 in Melbourne and enlisted in Melbourne on 15th September 1940. At the time he was working as a school teacher in Hawthorn, Victoria. On arrival in the UK he trained with 27 OTU and was posted to 460 Squadron on 23rd February 1942. It would be worth noting here that he had attended Melbourne University and gained a Bachelor of Arts (Honours in History) and a Bachelor of Education before becoming a teacher. He was clearly a very bright young man. During his War Service he penned a poem which has since been reproduced across the world, the most well known publication being in Time Magazine in 1943. His poem, I show here...
All Almighty and All Present Power,
Short is the prayer I make to Thee.
I do not ask in battle hour
For any shield to cover me.
The vase unalterable way
From which the stars do not depart,
May not be turned aside, to stay,
The bullet flying to my heart.
I ask no help to strike my foe
I seek no pretty victory here.
The enemy I hate, I know
To Thee is also dear.
But this, I pray, be at my side
When death is droning through the sky
Almighty God, who also died,
Teach me the way that I should die.
On 2nd June 1942 Sgt Levitus, F/Sgt Hugh Brodie and Sgt Read were flying in Wellington Z1249 on Ops to Essen. The aircraft was found to have been shot down and crashed near Deulken, twenty miles from Dusseldorf with the loss of the whole crew. The crew were removed from the wreckage and buried but the Post-War wargrave invetigations failed to reveal their buried location and as such they are still commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Solomon Levitus and Robert Read were twenty years old, Hugh Brodie was thirty years old.
Solomon Levitus was born on 17th April 1920 in Sydney, New South Wales and enlisted there.
Allan McKinnon was born on 6th December 1918 in Hyde Park, South Australia. He enlisted in Adelaide. For services with 460 Squadron he was awarded the DFC, Gazetted on 14th May 1943, the citation reads.. ".. has completed numerous successful sorties over Germany, Italy, and Occupied France, always pressing home his attacks regardless of enemy opposition. His sorties have included two raids on Cologne and two on Essen. He also took part in a raid on Berlin in March 1943, when great damage was inflicted. From this mission, P/O McKinnon secured a most valuable photograph of the target area." He later converted to flying Lancasters and was flying on his second Tour with the same 460 Squadron when, on the night of 24th / 25th March 1944 he was the pilot of Lancaster ME640 on Ops to Berlin. The aircraft was hit by flak and crashed near the Dortmund-Ems canal with the loss of all but one of the crew. He was initially buried at Lingen-on-Ems in Germany but was re-interred in Reichswald War Cemetery after the War. He was twenty five years old.
Sgt Viner later posted to 461 Squadron and was involved in a crash landing on the sea in the Bay of Biscay on which saw his pilot being sadly killed on 29th May 1943.