Wellington HE688 damaged by flak, returned to Skipton on Swale airfield.
On the night of 27th / 28th May 1943 the crew of this 432 Squadron aircraft undertook an operational flight to bomb Essen and took off from Skipton on Swale airfield at 22.56hrs. The aircraft was slightly damaged by flak damage at 01.15hrs while over the target but released their bomb load through thick cloud cover. The crew returned to base safely and landed at 04.38hrs at Skipton on Swale airfield.
Pilot - Sgt William Harold David Meaden RCAF.
Navigator - Sgt J D Barker.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt W West.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Donald Robert Kelly RCAF (R/55516).
Air Gunner - Sgt K Ward.
On 12th June 1943 this crew had just undertaken an operational flight to bomb Dusseldorf in Wellington HE688 and had landed safely at Skipton on Swale. Before the engines had stopped F/Sgt Donald Kelly got out of the aircraft and walked towards the front but walked into a rotating propeller and was seriously injured. He was rushed to Northallerton Friarage Hospital but sadly died a few hours later. He is buried in Ripon Cemetery.
William Meaden was born in Edmonton in 1922 and later awarded the DFC for service with 432 Squadron, Gazetted on 30th June 1944. He returned to Canada after the war and briefly worked within civilian aviation there before re-joining the RCAF and serving with 436 Squadron. He died in 2000.
Wellington HE688 was built to contract B.124362/40 by Vickers Armstrong’s Ltd. at Hawarden and was taken on charge by 427 Squadron at Croft as new on 6th March 1943. On 29th / 30th March 1943 the aircraft was flown on an operational flight to Bochum and is stated on it's AM Form 78 to have sustained Cat.Ac/FB damage on this date. The 427 Squadron records state that on 29th March 1943 a Ju88 approached this Wellington but they do not state the Ju88 actually attacked the Wellington. The Wellington gunners opened fire and witnessed bursts hit the Ju88 which dived straight down out of sight (duval). The unit orb states that the Wellington landed at 01.43hrs at Croft but does not mention any damage resulting on this night at all. The aircraft was then not flown operationally for a few weeks so this would fit for it being damaged. The aircraft was repaired on site by a team from Vickers at Weybridge and was returned to 427 Squadron charge on 10th April 1943. On 2nd May 1943 the aircraft was transferred to 432 Squadron at Skipton on Swale. On 28th May 1943 it sustained minor battle damage on Ops, Cat.A/FB damage was the damage assessment and it was repaired on site. On 12th June 1943 it was involved in a ground accident at Skipton on Swale that killed a member of the crew who walked into a rotating propeller, probably no damage to the aircraft resulted. On 16th July 1943 the aircraft was transferred to 17 O.T.U. at Silverstone. On 15th November 1943 it was flown to 13 M.U. at Henlow for modifications and was returned to 17 O.T.U. on 13th December 1943. On 23rd March 1944 the aircraft was being flown on a cross country training flight when it suffered an engine failure, the pilot eventually lost control near Northallerton and the aircraft crashed near Osmotherley sadly killing all of the six crew on board. Cat.E2/FA Burnt damage was the damage assessment and the aircraft was struck off charge on 30th March 1944.