Halifax HR730 damaged by flak, returned to Snaith airfield.
This 51 Squadron aircraft took off from Snaith at 23.35hrs on 25th June 1943 to undertake an operational flight to bomb Gelsenkirchen. The aircraft was hit by flak over the target area at 01.33hrs while flying at 18,000ft and received damage to the port engine. The port engine was unable to be feathered. The crew were able to bring the aircraft safely back to base and landed at Snaith in the early hours of 26th June 1943 at 04.36hrs.
Pilot - Sgt Nicholas Chirgwin Richards RAFVR (1313436).
Navigator - Sgt John Henry Barnicoat RAFVR (960091).
Bomb Aimer - P/O Arthur Kenneth Dean RAFVR (142557).
Wireless Operator - Sgt Leslie George Holland RAFVR (1380058).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Robert Henry Stow RAFVR (578017).
Air Gunner - Sgt Albert Frederick Tidmarsh RAFVR (850303).
Air Gunner - Sgt Kenneth Wilson Grisdale RAFVR (1390249).
Nicholas Richards received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) (147952) on 9th May 1943. Nothing more is known about him.
Leslie Holland received the DFM for service with 51 Squadron, Gazetted on 19th October 1943. Having just received his commission on 18th February 1945 (195246) and having been posted to 35 Squadron PFF he was reported as missing on 6th March 1945 while flying Ops to Chemnitz in Lancaster ME333. He was twenty four years old and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
Kenneth Grisdale was also awarded the DFM for service with 51 Sqadron, also Gazetted on 19th October 1943. While in the rank of Warrant Officer he died on 24th November 1945 at the age of twenty four years old and he is buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey.
Robert Stow was also awarded the DFM for service with 51 Squadron, also Gazetted on 19th October 1943. He was granted a commission on to the rank of P/O on probation on 9th February 1944 (54278) rising to F/O on 9th August 1944 and F/Lt on 9th February 1946. He was awarded the DFC for service with 158 Squadron, Gazetted on 20th July 1945.
Albert Tidmarsh received a commission on 18th July 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency)(149055), he was awarded the DFC for service with 51 Sqadron, also Gazetted on 19th October 1943 and was promoted to F/O on 18th January 1944. He died on 9th June 1944 and is buried Northfield Churchyard, Warwickshire.
John Barnicoat received a commission on 21st June 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency)(148466). He was also awarded the DFC for service with 51 Sqadron, also Gazetted on 19th October 1943. He was promoted to F/O on 21st December 1943 and F/Lt on 21st June 1945. Having served with 162 Squadron he was awarded the Bar to the DFC, Gazetted on 6th November 1945.
Arthur Dean received a commission to the rank of P/O on (142557) 11th March 1943. For service with 51 Squadron he was awarded the DFC, Gazetted on 19th October 1943.
Halifax HR730 was built to contract ACFT/1688/42 by Handley Page Ltd. and was flown to 18 M.U. at Dumfries on 28th February 1943. The aircraft was taken on charge by 51 Squadron at Snaith on 31st March 1943. As a result of battle damage sustained on 27th April 1943 Cat.A/FB damage was the assessment and it was repaired on site. It was used operationally less than two days later so cannot have been seriously damaged. On 12th / 13th May 1943 the aircraft was used on Ops to Duisburg and was landed at Burn on the return to Yorkshire. During the afternoon it was ferried back to Snaith but the tail wheel assembly broke on landing. The aircraft's AM Form 78 lists that on 17th May 1943 a repair on site commenced by a team from Handley Page Ltd. Once the repair was complete it was returned to 51 Squadron on 19th June 1943. It's next operational flight was on 25th June 1943 this time to bomb Gelsenkirchen. The squadron records state that it received flak damage. Cat.A/FB damage must have been the damage assessment as this incident is not listed on the aircraft's AM Form 78. A repair on site must have been at least begun on site locally at Snaith. Here there is a problem with recording the history. The aircraft's AM Form 78 states that on 27th July 1943 it received a Cat.Ac/FB damage assessment but the aircraft does not feature on 51 Squadron's operational records around this date or at any stage after this date in 1943. One suggestion could be that it was damaged on 25th June 1943 and was initially assessed as Cat.A/FB but as the repair was carried out damage was found to be more severe so it was upgraded to Cat.Ac though normally this would be logged as Re-Cat.Ac. The aircraft's history throughout the rest of 1943 is therefore unclear. The AM Form 78 states it was returned to 51 Squadron on 1st January 1943 which is clearly an error. It was never flown operationally again by 51 Squadron in 1943. On 1st February 1944 the aircraft was transferred to 102 Squadron at Pocklington and on 30th March 1944 it was transferred to 1569 Heavy Conversion Unit at Topcliffe. The aircraft was then flown to 48 MU at Hawarden for storage on 7th January 1945 before being struck off charge on 1st November 1945.