Wellington HE729 damaged by flak, returned to Croft airfield.
On the night of 4th / 5th April 1943 this aircraft was one belonging to 427 Squadron that had carried out an operational flight to bomb Kiel, this crew set out from Croft airfield at 20.37hrs and bombed the target area but sustained flak damage to the fuselage of the aircraft. The crew made a safe return to base landing at Croft at 03.27hrs.
Pilot - Sgt Malcolm Barnes Summers RCAF (R/128658).
Navigator - P/O John Joseph Beaton RCAF (J/22490).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Glyndwr Davies RAFVR (1382127).
Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt James Wilde RCAF (R/56444).
Air Gunner - Sgt Peter Edward Newland RAF (639243).
All of the above later converted to fly the Lancaster and were posted to 426 Squadron. On 7th / 8th October 1043 they were flying Lancaster DS689 on Ops to Stuttgart when the aircraft went on to crash in France. F/O Beaton survived and became a PoW but the others listed above were all killed and are buried Rachecourt-sur-Blaise, France.
Wellington HE729 was built to contract B.124362/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Hawarden and was taken on charge by 427 Squadron at Croft on 19th March 1943. As a result of flak damage sustained on 5th April 1943 Cat.Ac/FB damage was the damage assessment and it was repaired on site by a team from Vickers at Weybridge. It was returned to 427 Squadron on 24th April 1943 but was immediately transferred to 432 Squadron at Skipton on Swale. On 2nd May 1942 it received unspecified Cat.Ac/FA damage in a flying accident but no details of what happened are yet known. The aircraft was repaired on site by a team from Vickers, Weybridge and was returned to 432 Squadron on 5th June 1943. The aircraft failed to return from Ops to Dusseldorf on 12th June 1943 that saw its crew of five killed. Cat.E(m) damage was recorded on the paperwork and it was struck off charge on 1st July 1943.