Wellington HE992 damaged by flak, returned to East Moor airfield.
During the night of 28th / 29th June 1943 the crew of this 429 Squadron aircraft were undertaking an operational flight to bomb Cologne when it suffered minor flak damage over Germany. It received one flak hole and the trailing aerial was shot away. The pilot was able to bring the aircraft home to East Moor and made a safe landing at 04.31hrs.
Pilot - Sgt Harold Arthur Floren RCAF (R/120811), of Westbury, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Navigator - Sgt H Gamberg RCAF (R/134463).
Bomb Aimer - P/O John William Astbury RCAF (J/21524), of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Norman Johnston RCAF (R/74682).
Air Gunner - Sgt Nuncie Leone RCAF (R/53024), of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Floren, Astbury and Leone were later posted to 405 Squadron PFF and were killed flying Lancaster JA974 on 14th January 1944 on an operational flight to Brunswick, they are buried in Hanover War Cemetery, Germany. Floren was twenty two years old, Astbury was twenty three and Leone was twenty five years old.
Harold Floren was born in Moosomin, Saskatchewan, Canada on 25th February 1922. He enlisted for RCAF service in Saskatoon straight out of school at Regina on 25th August 1941. After receiving his Wings he went overseas in November 1942. He, Astbury and Leone arrived at 429 Squadron from 22 OTU on 19th April 1943 and had flown ten operational flights with 429 Squadron before being selected for the newly created Pathfinder Force. They were posted out on different dates in August 1943 to 405 Squadron. They became reasonably well known as being part of the first crew to fly the first Canadian-built Lancaster KB700 "Ruhr Express" on Ops to Berlin in late-November 1943. At that date Floren was quoted as having flown seventeen operational flights. KB700 was transferred to 419 Squadron later and crashed at Middleton St.George before the end of the War.
Nuncie Leone was born on 25th March 1918 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was the son of Adam and Madelene (nee Bonifarzi) Leone. He enlisted for RCAF service in Toronto on 31st October 1939 for ground duties and he initially served as a member of the RCAF Service Police and in guard duties. He re-mustered as aircrew in early 1942 and after basic training in Canada he was awarded his Air Gunner's badge on 26th September 1942. With that part of his training complete he left for service overseas a few weeks later and on arrival in the UK he trained at 22 OTU on 2nd February 1943 and then to 429 Squadron on 19th April 1943. 429 Squadron began converting to four-engined aircraft in August 1943 and he was posted to 1659 HCU for this conversion training. He was then posted to 405 Squadron on 30th August 1943.
John Astbury was born on 28th August 1943 at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada and was the son of Charles Bernard and Catherine Davidson (nee Robertson) Astbury. He enlisted for RCAF service in Winnipeg on 8th November 1941 and initially began pilot training but then switched to air observer training. He was awarded an Air Observer's badge on 20th November 1942 in Canada and then received a commission on 4th December 1942. He left Canada on 11th December 1942 and arrived in the UK a week later.
Norman Johnston was born on 28th October 1919 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and was the son of Andree and Elzabeth (McBain) Johnston. He enlisted for RCAF service on 8th October 1940 in Vancouver. After training in Canada he was awarded his Air Gunner's badge on 12th October 1942. On arrival in the UK in November 1942 he trained at 22 OTU and 6 (O)AFU before posting to 429 Squadron on 29th April 1943. As with the other members of the crew, he was posted to convert to Halifaxes at 1659 HCU in early August 1943 and on 30th August 1943 was posted to 405 Squadron. He received a commission on 24th February 1944. He was killed on 3rd June 1944 while flying with 405 Squadron while undertaking an operational flight to bomb railway marshalling yards at Trappes, France and the aircraft, Lancaster ND507 failed to return. He is buried at St.Desir War Cemetery, France. He was twenty four years old and in the rank of Flying Officer at the time.
Sgt Gamberg arrived at 429 Squadron on 29th April 1943 from 22 OTU, he was also posted to 405 Squadron on 30th August 1943. He was to return to 429 Squadron on 30th October 1943. He survived the war.
Wellington HE992 was built to contract B124362/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd at Chester and was delivered to 48 MU at Hawarden on 3rd May 1943 for acceptance. It was then taken on charge by 429 Squadron at East Moor on 23rd May 1943. It was slightly damaged by flak on 29th June 1943 which must have been assessed as Cat.Ac/FB but did not require repair by Vickers so was probably repaired locally and not logged on it's AM Form 78. It was then damaged on landing at East Moor on 3rd July 1943 with which must have been assessed as Cat.Ac/FA damage as it was then repaired on site by a team from Vickers at Weybridge. On completion of repair it returned to 429 Squadron on 7th August 1943 but was then transferred to 82 O.T.U. at Ossington on 27th August 1943. They damaged it slightly three times that saw repaired on site being made. It was transferred to 29 O.T.U. on 17th January 1945. The unit disbanded on 27th May 1945 and the aircraft was flown into storage at 8 MU where it remained until being struck off charge as scrap on 12th May 1947.