Halifax BB194 near Melbourne airfield.
On 3rd February 1943 the crew of this 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft were undertaking a basic night flying practice exercise involving a series of take-offs and landings as part of their bomber conversion training. This was the first solo flight the pilot had made in a Halifax. At 22.10hrs on one such lap of the Melbourne airfield circuit the aircraft bounced on landing, the pilot attempted to overshoot but then dropped too low and flew into the ground around 500 yards from the end of runway. The pilot sustained serious head injuries but the other members of his crew are believed to have escaped with less serious injuries. The pilot and the injured air gunner were admitted to Fulford Military Hospital and all are believed to have made good recoveries although they appear to have gone their seperate ways.
Pilot - Sgt John Noel Willoughby RAFVR (1144408). Injured.
Second Pilot - F/O Raymond Price Hellis RAFVR (123117).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Cyril Gordon Street RAF (576754). Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt James Albert Cable RAFVR (1194278).
Air Gunner - Sgt Alexander Munro Taylor RAFVR (1561460).
Air Gunner - Sgt Stanley Harvey Boulton RAFVR (1272722). Injured.
Air Gunner - Sgt Cyril Davies RAFVR (1412831).
Halifax BB194 was built to contract B.124357/40 by the London Passenger Transport Board at Leavesden. It was received by 37 MU on 20th April 1942 but then passed to 45 MU on 12th July 1942. The aircraft was taken on charge by 10 Squadron at Leeming on 4th August 1942. 10 Squadron moved to Melbourne on 19th August 1942. As a result of battle damage on 5th September 1942 minor Cat.A/FB damage was the assessment and it was repaired on site at Melbourne. On completion of repair it was transferred to 10 Conversion Flight (also at Melbourne) on 16th September 1942. On 7th October 1942 10 C.F. was absorbed into 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit at Riccall. On 18th October 1942 the tail wheel collapsed on landing at Skipton on Swale landing ground resulting in Cat.Ac/FA damage. The aircraft was repaired on site by a team from Handley Page and it was returned to 1658 H.C.U.. As a result of the crash at Melbourne on 3rd February 1943 it was written off with Cat.E2/FA damaged recorded. It was struck off charge on 17th February 1943.
Sgt Street was later posted to 51 Squadron, on the night of 9th / 10th July 1943 he was flying in Halifax HR843 on Ops to Gelsenkirchen when the aircraft went into a spin while his then pilot was taking evasive action to avoid flak. During the spin he and one other airman baled out but his then pilot was able to regain control and made a crash landing in England. Sgt Street saw out the rest of the war as a prisoner of war.
Raymond Hellis had received a commission on 25th April 1942 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) and was promoted to F/O on 25th October 1942. Here is the problem, his rank is listed as P/O on 3rd February 1943 when BB194 crashed but this man was a rank higher. Hellis is not a common name though and 1658 HCU were training crews for 4 Group bomber squadrons and one of these was 10 Squadron. Raymond Hellis was later posted to 10 Squadron and received the DFC, Gazetted on 13th August 1943 while in the rank of Acting F/Lt. He had been posted to 1664 HCU on 23rd June 1944.
John Willoughby appears to have served as a staff pilot at various Bomber Command No.4 Group training units for the last half of the War. He was posted from 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit to 1484 Flight on 6th April 1943 where he served until 15th February 1944 when 1484 Flight disbanded. He was later posted to 1689 Flight who did a similar job in training Bomber Command aircrew. He was granted a commission in April 1945 and rose to F/O by the end of 1945.
Sgt Boulton was posted to 77 Squadron on 9th April 1943 and later to 35 Squadron. He was made a PoW on 24th March 1944 when 35 Squadron Lancaster ND597 was shot down on Ops by a night-fighter.