Wellington HE653 at Croft airfield.
On the night of 27th / 28th April 1943 the crew of this 427 Squadron aircraft undertook an operational flight to lay mines and took off from Croft at 01.34hrs. The crew were unable to pinpoint the correct position to drop their mine so appear to have returned with it on board. On landing at Croft at 06.00hrs just after dawn the pilot began to taxy the aircraft around the airfield to a dispersal point. Normally groundcrew would direct the aircraft and be generally watching the aircraft but none were present. It reached the dispersal point without incident and as the pilot swung the aircraft around into the wind the rear part of the rear turret struck a bomb trolley that had been left too close to the dispersal point.
Pilot - F/O Lou Warren Somers RCAF (J/8519).
Navigator - Sgt Carl Norman Hurl RCAF (R/102768).
Bomb Aimer - P/O Vernon M White RCAF (J/22537).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt L A Bone RAFVR (1027401).
Air Gunner - Sgt D J Ashby RAFVR (1320913).
Sgt Hurl was posted to 432 Squadron on its formation. He was killed on 9th October 1943 when Wellington LN451 crashed on Ops to Hanover and is buried in Hanover War Cemetery. This was the last Bomber Command operational squadron Wellington loss on operations.
On 24th / 25th June 1943 all but Sgt Hurl were flying in Halifax DK135 that failed to return from Ops to Wuppertal. Somers was killed while White and Bone became PoWs.
Wellington HE653 was built to contract B.124362/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd, at Hawarden and was awaiting collection in February 1943. The aircraft was issued to 18 M.U. on 28th February 1943 and was taken on charge by 427 Squadron at Croft on 6th March 1943. As a result of hitting a tree while airborne on 27th March 1943 minor Cat.Ac/FB damage was the damage assessment. It was repaired on site and returned to 427 Squadron on 3rd April 1943. As a result of the mishap on 28th April 1943 Cat.A/FA damage resulted and it appears to have been repaired very quickly because on 2nd May 1943 it was transferred to 432 Squadron at Skipton on Swale. The aircraft was then transferred to 27 O.T.U. at Lichfield just days later on 18th May 1943. On 22nd December 1943 it struck birds on take off from Lichfield and while the then pilot was trying fly a circuit of the airfield it made a crash landing. Cat.E/FA Burnt damage was the result of the damage assessment and it was struck off charge on 1st January 1944. By that date it had clocked up just short of 300 flying hours.