Unidentified Wellington at East Moor airfield.
The details regarding this incident are very vague. The only mention of this incident that has current been found in passing is in Brian Shields' book "The East
Moor Experience". He states that Wellington "-V" was damaged in a crash whilst taking off on 28th March 1943. 429 Squadron flew Ops to St.Nazaire on the evening of
28th March 1943 but the ORB does not list any aircraft damaged as a result, if this incident does exist it was probably not sustained during their operational flying on this date so is not covered in their record. Wellington "AL-V" of 429 Squadron was possibly Wellington DF625 around this time, it's AM Form 78 does not give any mention of any damage in March 1943 but if it was only very slight then it may not be logged.
Crew - Names unknown.
Wellington DF625 was built to contract 92439/40 by Vickers Armstrong at Blackpool and was delivered to 44 M.U. on 23rd August 1942 for acceptance. It was taken on charge by 466 Squadron at Driffield on 21st November 1942 a month after the unit formed but it was only used in a training role. It was transferred to 429 Squadron at East Moor on 25th November 1942 and was one of the first four aircraft to be on charge with the unit. The aircraft sustained Cat.Ac/FA damage on 13th February 1943 which must have been repaired on site although no information about the incident happened is yet known. The aircraft's AM Form 78 states it was transferred to 26 O.T.U. at Wing on 11th March 1943 but this cannot be correct as it is listed in the 429 Squadron well after this date. It may also have been damaged on 28th March 1943 at East Moor but no source documentation has yet been found to prove this. The aircraft carried out six operational flights before a mishap at East Moor on 27th April 1943. After this Wellington B.III's had been phased off operational flying by 429 Squadron. Following the incident on 27th April 1943 it was initially assessed as being repairable on site and may well have been repaired there. Whether it actually ever went to 29 O.T.U. around this time is anyone's guess. It's AM78 states that it sustained Cat.Ac damage on 17th May 1943 which was then re-Cat.B and sent to be repaired in a works factory. This may be the damage that occurred at East Moor on 27th April 1943 that was more serious than first thought, or it was damage in another incident whether at East Moor or elsewhere. The repair took until December 1943 and after passing through 8 M.U. in January 1943 it later served with 14 OTU at Market Harborough before finally moving to 29 OTU at Bruntingthorpe. It left 29 OTU in February 1945 and was with 8 M.U. where it remained until being struck off charge on 12th May 1947.