Lancaster ED366 at Breighton airfield.
On the night of 14th / 15th February 1943 this 460 Squadron aircraft was flown on an operational flight to bomb Milan and took off from Breighton airfield at 18.50hrs. As the aircraft was approaching the target it was shadowed by an enemy aircraft but it did not have the speed to attack. The crew released their bomb load over the target at 22.50hrs from 15,000 feet and then took evasive action which lost the would-be attacker. On the return to Breighton the aircraft ballooned upwards while the pilot was holding off landing owing to a strong wind. The pilot then misjudged his height after correcting the position of the aircraft and allowed the aircraft to stall. A heavy landing caused a tyre to burst. The Lancaster appears to have come to rest with the undercarriage collapsed as Cat.B damage resulted.
The 460 Squadron records appear to list the wrong aircraft being flown by this crew on this date, it was not W4308 as there is an AM Form 1180 that states that Knight-Brown flew Lancaster ED366 that was damaged on landing from Ops with the timings that match. W4308 was lost in January 1943.
Pilot - F/O Noel Henry Knight-Brown RAAF (403348).
Navigator - P/O Stephen Falcon Scott McCullagh RAAF (403754).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Cyril Bentham RAFVR (936181).
Bomb Aimer - Sgt C L Taylor RAAF.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - P/O Maxwell Alwyn Keddie RAAF (403110).
Air Gunner - Sgt Walter Boscawen Ranclaud RAAF (405502).
Air Gunner - Sgt Ivan Ross Galbraith RAAF (406593).
Second Pilot? - P/O Boyer.
Lancaster ED366 was delivered as new to 100 Squadron on 13th December 1942 but was transferred to 460 Squadron at Breighton on 28th January 1943. As a result of the damage sustained on 15th February 1943 Cat.Ac/FA damage was the initial damage assessment but this was soon increased to Re-Cat.B which required a repair in a works factory by A.V.Roe. On 7th September 1943 it was servicable again and passed to 46 MU. On 8th October 1943 it passed to 166 Squadron but on 23rd October 1943 it failed to return from Ops to Kassel that saw all but it's then pilot killed. The aircraft was struck off charge on 26th October 1943.
Noel Knight-Brown was born on 30th December 1917 near Sydney and enlisted on 6th January 1941 in Sydney, he was a farmer at the time at Mount Irvine in the Blue Mountains National Park. He trained as a pilot gaining his Wings on 25th September 1941. Having done his initial training in Canada he arrived in the UK and was posted to 27 OTU on 18th November 1941 and then to 26 OTU on 28th May 1942 before arriving at 460 Squadron on 7th June 1942. He received a commission to P/O on 28th July 1942 and rose to F/O on 28th January 1943. Having converted to flying four-engined heavy bombers at 1656 CU begining 20th August 1942 he had returned to 460 Squadron on 10th November 1942 and completed his Tour. He was posted to 1481 B.A.T. Flight on 16th September 1943. On 26th October 1943 F/O Knight-Brown was flying in Martinet HP322 on a meteorological flight off the Lincolnshire coast to check on the weather conditions over the ranges in foggy conditions. The aircraft failed to return to base and wreckage was later seen floating on the surface of the North Sea off Skegness and it was believed that the aircraft had crashed into the sea. No trace of either of the crew was ever found and F/O Knight-Brown is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. He was twenty three years old.