Lancaster DS844 at East Moor airfield.
On the night of 29th / 30th December 1943 this 432 Squadron aircraft was due to fly an operational flight to bomb Berlin, the crew took off from East Moor at 17.20hrs but outbound the aircraft developed a technical fault with the port outer engine so the crew were forced to return home early. At 19.24hrs the aircraft landed at East Moor but it overshot the runway and suffered minor damage. This appears to have been the crew's first operational flight with 432 Squadron.
Lancaster DS844 was built to contract AC.239 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd at Baginton and was delivered directly to 426 Squadron at Linton on Ouse on 16th October 1943 but suffered a complete failure of the starboard outer engine on the flight, the ATA pilot feathered the engine and completed the delivery flight which must have seen the Cat.Ac/FA damage assessment recorded on the aircraft's AM Form 78. The aircraft was repaired on site and returned to 426 Squadron. The date of transfer to 432 Squadron at East Moor is not recorded on the aircraft's AM Form 78 but was probably in November 1943. As a result of damage at East Moor on 29th December 1943 Cat.Ac/FB damage was the damage assessment. It was repaired on site with it being returned to 432 Squadron on 22nd January 1944. The aircraft was transferred to 408 Squadron at Linton on Ouse on 9th February 1944 where it carried the squadron code "EQ-X". On 25th February 1944 the aircraft failed to return from ops to Schweinfurt. It is believed to have crashed in the River Rhine with seven killed, of which three were listed as missing. Cat.Em damage was recorded on the paperwork and the aircraft was struck off charge on 13th March 1944.
Pilot - F/Sgt Walter Fernyhough RCAF (R/157640).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Jack Hembry RAFVR (1803814).
Navigator - Sgt John Vernon Musser RCAF (R/152410).
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Henry John Kennedy RCAF (R/169354).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt G Lamphier RCAF (R/127751).
Air Gunner - Sgt Andrew Lagimodiere RCAF (R/186806).
Air Gunner - Sgt D Racher RCAF (R/186150).
Walter Fernyhough was born in Clyde, Alberta, Canada on 19th March 1923 and was the son of Richard Josiah and Flora (nee Brazington) Fernyhough. His parents had married in Shrewsbury, England in October 1918 and emigrated to Canada soon after. They had lived in the Clyde area of Alberta with his father being a farmer but when he retired the family moved to Victoria, British Columbia around 1939 where Walter attended High School. He was still a student when he enlisted for RCAF service on 10th March 1942. After basic training in Canada he was awarded his Pilot's Wings on 5th March 1943. He was then posted overseas in late-March 1943 and arrived in the UK on 4th April 1943. He received further training at 15 (P)AFU (beginning 1st June 1943), 22 OTU (beginning 10th August 1943) and later 62 Base (1679 HCU?)(beginning 4th November 1943). He was then posted to 432 Squadron on 12th December 1943 with Henry Kenneth and probably most of the others listed above. He received a commission to the rank of P/O on 31st March 1944. Hugh Halliday's research into RCAF awards has located the recommendation for his DFC and is dated 26th June 1944. At this date he had flown thirty operational flights (175 hours, 10 minutes) beginning on 25th November 1943 (as second pilot before posting to 432 Squadron). The citation reads.."Pilot Officer Fernyhough, as pilot and captain of aircraft, completed numerous operations against the enemy in the course of which he has invariably displayed the utmost fortitude, courage and devotion to duty." The award of the DFC was granted only two days before his death but was not Gazetted until 25th January 1946. Two of his brothers served in the RCAF, William Arthur (R/261760) as a pilot in the RCAF and F/O Richard George (J/15988) in Canada.
Henry Kennedy was born on 18th June 1922 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and was the eldest son of Harry Craig and Lillian May (nee Smith) Kennedy. His father was born in Edinburgh, Scotland but had emigrated to Canada when he was young. The family lived in Brockville, Ontario. After leaving school and college he begun working as a hatter in February 1940 but enlisted for non-permanent military service in Canada on 15th August 1940 joining the auxiliary "Brockville Rifles". He was later discharged from the Brockville Rifles on enlistment into the RCAF on 30th June 1942 in Ottawa. After basic training in Canada he was awarded his Air Bomber badge on 14th May 1943. He was posted overseas in June 1943 arriving in the UK on 1st July 1943 and then trained at 10 (O)AFU (beginning 12th July 1943), 22 OTU (begining 17th August 1943) and 1679 HCU (beginning 4th November 1943). He was then posted to 432 Squadron on 12th December 1943. He received a commission to the rank of P/O on 2nd April 1944. I thank his niece for contacting me in November 2015.
On 29th June 1944 P/O Fernyhough DFC (J/85610), P/O Hembry, P/O Musser and P/O Kennedy were flying together in Halifax MZ591, of 432 Squadron, when the aircraft failed to return from an operational flight to bomb Metz, France. Their aircraft was shot down by a night-fighter and crashed at Chevrieres, near Creil. All are buried in Creil Communal Cemetery. Their then wireless operator, P/O Woolfenden, baled out and became a PoW. This was P/O Fernyhough's thirtieth operational flight with 432 Squadron.
Jack Hembry received a commission on 13th April 1944 to P/O on probation (emergency).
Andrew Lagimodiere was born in July 1919, he enlisted into the RCAF in 1941 and completed a Tour of thirty five operational flights with 432 Squadron. He died in May 2001 aged 81. In some respects he was lucky in that he contracted mumps or measles in June 1944 and was grounded for a time but while he was grounded his regular crew were joined by the Gunnery Leader to make up the numbers. Following his crew's loss in June 1944 he acted as a "spare" air gunner with the squadron and completed his Tour. I had initially linked Donald Lagimodiere RCAF, who was reported missing in Canada on 13th September 1943 as being closely related but this would now seem unlikely as his service records listing his siblings are on the internet. Donald was from Lorette, Manitoba. He was flying a cross country training flight with 31 OTU in Hudson AM765 which failed to return from the flight over Nova Scotia to its base at Debert, Nova Scotia. I would welcome information to state if they were cousins.