Halifax HR921 at Melbourne airfield.
I am not entirely sure whether this webpage is correct and my text might be total rubbish but it is easy to delete as and when more information comes to light. There is an AM Form 1180 that states on the night of 7th / 8th October 1943 the crew of this 10 Squadron aircraft were to fly an operational flight and at 20.40hrs whilst taxying at Melbourne prior to taking off the aircraft swung off the perimeter track which broke the tail wheel oleo when it ran into soft ground. On the face of it this sounds nothing but a correct statement but when compared with the 10 Squadron records that states that the same pilot and crew flew a mine laying operational sortie that night in Halifax HX184 taking off from Melbourne at 20.35hrs. Therefore if the squadron records are to be believed then the crew were already in the air in a different aircraft when HR921 was damaged. HR921's AM Form 1180 states that it did receive a Cat.Ac/FB damage assessment on 8th October 1943. What may have happened is that this crew damaged HR921 prior to taking off for Ops then jumped into a spare aircraft that was prepared, HX184, and flew in that. Even that doesn't exactly fit as the other four 10 Squadron aircraft all set out at between 20.25hrs and 20.35hrs with the crew of HX184 releasing their load well before some of the other aircraft that had set out earlier. That may be mitigated if the other four aircraft all circled and waited for the fifth to become airborne before all setting course together. I cannot speculate how the time difference between 20.40 for HR921 crashing and HX184 taking off five minutes earlier can be resolved.
The incident may have occurred on the night of 8th / 9th October 1943 but it would be well before taking off as 10 Squadron aircraft took off at around 23.00hrs that night. The named pilot nor HR921 flew Ops that night. It may have been taxying well before taking off.
Pilot - F/O Reginald Pennicott RAFVR (124876).