Halifax HR667 damaged by flak, returned to Pocklington airfield.
On the night of 20th / 21st April 1943 the crew of this 102 Squadron aircraft were tasked with bombing Stettin, they left Pocklington at 21.19hrs and attacked the primary target from 11,000ft in good visibility. The aircraft sustained slight flak damage to the port side of the wireless operators position but this did not prevent the crew bringing the aircraft to base where they landed safely at Pocklington at 05.40hrs.
Pilot - P/O Alexander Seers Younger RAFVR (141712).
Air Gunner - P/O Thomas John McArthur RAFVR (139410).
Navigator - P/O Joseph Ovila Peltier RCAF (J/17546).
Air Gunner - Sgt J Bell.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt A Sharpe.
Flight Engineer - Sgt W John.
Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt W E J Murphy.
Second Pilot - Sgt Eric Ford Williamson RAF (815223).
Joseph Peltier was the son of Rene and Emilie Peltier of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, he was born on 31st January 1918. He enlisted for RCAF service on 6th June 1941 and prior to leaving Canada he married Lillian Scott in January 1942. He received a commission in March 1943. Following service with 102 Squadron he was posted to 23 OTU. He was later posted to 617 Squadron in March 1944. On 31st July 1944 he was flying in Lancaster ME557 with his pilot being F/Lt Bill Reid VC, the aircraft was one of a number of 617 Squadron aircraft detailed to drop the first 12,000lb Tallboy bombs to destroy or block the entrances to a V-weapon storage dump in a railway tunnel at Rilly-la-Montagne, near Rheims in Northern France. Lancaster ME557 was hit from above by the bomb or bombs dropped by another aircraft and it broke up in the air, two of the crew were able to bale out but the remaining members were unable to get clear and were killed when the aircraft crashed. F/O Peltier was twenty six years old and is buried in Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, France.
Alexander Younger received a commission on 7th February 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation. He was awarded the DFC for service with 102 Squadron, Gazetted on 14th May 1943. He died in Taunton in 1998.
Thomas McArthur received a commission on 30th December 1942 to the rank of P/O on probation and was promoted to F/O on probation on 30th June 1943 and later to F/Lt (war subs) on 30th December 1944. He was awarded the DFC for service with 460 Squadron, Gazetted on 23rd March 1945. He resigned his commission on 2nd April 1946 on the grounds of medical unfitness for Air Force duties, this may have been down to injuries sustained in a flying accident but any details of this are not yet known.
The second pilot Sgt Williamson was coming to the end of his training at 1663 Heavy Conversion Unit and was flying as
second pilot to gain experience of operational flying prior to him and his crew being posted operational. On 1st May 1943
he was flying on a cross country training exercise with his own crew in Halifax DG408 when the aircraft ended up off
course and off the French coastline. The aircraft was probably shot down and crashed in the waters off Jersey. Sgt
Williamson's body was washed ashore and he is buried in Bayeux War Cemetery, France. He was twenty two years old.
Brian Mennell details the loss of Halifax DG408 in his book "Wings over York, The History of Rufforth Airfield".
Nothing is known about the other members of the crew listed at the top of this page, their names could be
incorrectly recorded in the squadron ORB.
Halifax HR667 was built to contract ACFT/1688/42 by Handley Page Ltd. at Radlett and was delivered to 102 Squadron at Pocklington on 13th January 1943. As a result of sustaining flak damage on 13th March 1943, 30th March 1943, 4th April 1943 and 21st April 1943 minor Cat.A/FB damage resulted each time and a repair on site was all that was required each time. On 5th May 1943 the aircraft failed to return from an operational flight to bomb Dortmund and subsequently crashed near Dokkum, Holland with the loss of seven crew. Cat.E(m) damage was recorded and the aircraft was struck off charge on 18th May 1943 once the paperwork caught up. It wasn't until 31st January 1947 that the crash site location was confirmed by No.3 Base Recovery Unit (B.R.U.) (which was a salvage unit operating in Europe).