Halifax HR667 damaged by flak, returned to Pocklington airfield.
On the night of 12th / 13th March 1943 the crew of this 102 Squadron aircraft were flying an operational flight to Essen and took off at 19.27hrs. When the aircraft was over the target area it was hit by a flak burst which made small holes in the fuselage. The crew were able to bring the aircraft back to base of Pocklington and land safely at 00.14hrs.
Pilot - WO2 William Phelps Comrie RCAF (R/95452).
Flight Engineer? - Sgt William McGrath RAFVR (1365664).
Navigator - F/O Douglas William Francis Harper RAFVR (127313).
Navigator - F/O William Hugh Jenkins RAFVR (129161).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Frank William Dorrington RAFVR (1330802).
Air Gunner - Sgt John King RAFVR (1609738).
Air Gunner - Sgt Myles Christian Campbell Squiers RAFVR (1478651).
This photograph shows part of the crew listed above, shown (believed to be left to right) are, Myles Squiers, Douglas Harper, William Comrie, Frank Dorrington and William Jenkins. A very well written account of this incident is recorded on "http://102ceylonsquadron.co.uk/memWilliamComrie.html" and while I have not drawn upon it this account does add a lot of additional background information.
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).