Halifax JB863 damaged by flak, returned to Elvington airfield.
On the night of 29th / 30th May 1943 the crew of this 77 Squadron aircraft were tasked with flying an operational flight to bomb Wuppertal and took off from Elvington airfield at 22.31hrs. They bombed PFF markers from 16,000 feet but sustained slight flak damage whilst over the target area. The crew were able to make a safe return to Elvington and land there at 04.15hrs.
Pilot - Sgt John Gardner RAFVR (1452977).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Sidney Henry Alfred Nicholson RAFVR (1213238).
Navigator - Sgt Frederick George Hawthorne RAFVR (1548758).
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Terence Wilfred Charles Luther RAFVR (1338934).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Francis Danby RAFVR (1310902).
Air Gunner - Sgt William Horace Ledger RCAF.
Air Gunner - Sgt Alfred Ross Currie RCAF (R/113684).
Sgt Danby was killed on 19th June 1943 when Halifax JB863 crashed near Heslington, York. Francis Danby had lost a younger brother in RAF service on 27th June 1942, Alan Danby was serving with 405 Squadron and he and his crew were killed when Halifax W1175 crashed off the Dutch coast and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
On the night of 21st / 22nd June 1943 Sgt's Gardner, Nicholson, Hawthorne and Currie were flying an operational flight to bomb Krefeld in Halifax JD205 when the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter, all at the front of the aircraft baled out and survived to become PoW's but Sgt Currie flying as rear gunner was killed, he is buried in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, he was thirty two years old. Sgt Hawthorne managed to evade capture for a time but was captured in August 1943.
On the night of 22nd / 23rd June 1943 Sgt Luther was flying in Halifax JD213 on Ops to Mulheim when the aircraft failed to return to base and nothing was ever heard or seen of the crew again. Sgt Luther is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, he was twenty one years old.
William Ledger was born in Toronto in August 1919 and was living there when he enlisted into the RCAF in July 1939. He remustered to aircrew in mid-1942 and after aircrew training he was posted to the UK in November 1942 training at 24 OTU and 1652 CU before being posted to 77 Squadron at Elvington. He received a commission to P/O on 26th November 1943 and was promoted F/O on 26th May 1944. He was awarded the DFC for service with 77 Squadron, Gazetted on 24th May 1944 but was repatriated in October 1944 and retired from the RCAF on 9th January 1945. The citation for his DFC reads.. "Pilot Officer Ledger has completed a tour of operational duty during which he participated against such heavily defended targets as Hamburg and Berlin. On two occasions he has been engaged by enemy fighters. The first, in May 1943, when over Dusseldorf, his aircraft was subjected to an attack by six Junkers 88s, two of which were repulsed and the remainder evaded. A cool and capable air gunner, he has at all times displayed courage and devotion to duty." Hugh Halliday's RCAF awards research has been used in this account.
Halifax JB863 was built to contract ACFT/1808/C4 by English Electric Co.Ltd. at Samlesbury and was taken on charge by 77 Squadron at Elvington on 16th March 1943. As a result of flak damage on the nights of 14th / 15th April 1943 and then on 29th / 30th May 1943 Cat.A/FB damage was the damage assessment each time that saw it twice repaired on site. On 19th June 1943 it had just taken off for an operational flight to bomb Le Creusot when it crashed near Heslington. Sadly all on board were killed. Cat.E2/FB Burnt damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge on 30th May 1943 having clocked up a total of 105.45 hours total flying time.