On the night of 29th / 30th March 1943 the crew of this 102 Squadron aircraft took off from Pocklington airfield at 22.04hrs to undertake an operational flight to bomb Berlin. During the course of the night the aircraft received minor flak damage to both wings. Despite the damage the crew were able to bring the aircraft safely back to base and landed at Pocklington airfield at 05.49hrs.
Pilot - WO2 James Livingston Lee RCAF (R/68499).
Navigator - Sgt George Arthur Jones RAFVR (1094912).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt James Noel Underwood RAFVR (1267926).
Air Gunner - Sgt Robert Michael Curtis RAFVR (658376).
Air Gunner - Sgt Frank Morley Traynor RAFVR (1055872).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Ronald McTavish Mather RAFVR (947323).
Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt W E J Murphy.
Second Pilot? - Sgt J A Marshall.
Sgt Mather survived the crash of Halifax HR803 near St.Neots on 24th July 1943 while serving with 35 PFF Squadron. He was still serving with 35 Squadron on 27th September 1943 and flying Ops to Hannover in Halifax HR907, the aircraft was shot down and he became a PoW, all of his then crew were very experienced airmen.
F/Sgt Underwood was later posted to 97 Squadron and killed on 22nd November 1943 in Lancaster JB227 flying Ops to Berlin. Nothing was heard of the aircraft and it was lost without trace. F/Sgt Underwood is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, he was twenty two years old.
WO2 Lee, Sgt Traynor and Sgt Jones were also later posted to 35 Squadron, on the night of 29th / 30th May 1943 they were flying in Halifax HR833 on Ops to Wuppertal when the aircraft was attacked by a night-fighter and exploded over Hoogstraten, Belgium. Five of the crew were killed including Sgt Traynor and WO Lee but two survived by parachute including Sgt Jones. Those who died were later buried Schoonselhof Cemetery, Belgium. Sgt Jones survived and was hidden for three months by a M. & Mme. Spitals of 106 Lindenhof, Hoogstraten, but he was captured in Brussels with his helpers and they were imprisoned for nine months for helping Sgt Jones evade capture. Sgt Jones finished the War as a PoW.
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).
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