Halifax JB914 at Leeming airfield.
On 13th April 1943 the crew of this 405 Squadron aircraft were undertaking a fighter affiliation training flight and had been in the air for just over two hours. By the time they were trying to land at Leeming at 15.30hrs a strong cross wind was making landing tricky. The aircraft stalled just above the ground, a wing dropped and the undercarriage was broken.
Pilot - Sgt John Alwyn Phillips RAFVR (1339011). Injured.
Alwyn Phillips shown with his crew while interned in Sweden on the back row, far left. Alwyn Phillips would write the book "Valley of the Shadow of Death" about the 1943 bombing operations of Spring and Summer 1943. John Phillips was known by his middle name of Alwyn, he was born in Swansea in 1922 and enlisted into the RAF in 1941. He was flying with 405 Squadron on the night of 3rd / 4th July 1943 when his aircraft was badly damaged on Ops to Cologne, he managed to bring the aircraft and his crew back to England safely and for his actions he was awarded the DFM. Notification of his DFM was printed in the London Gazette on 17th August 1943. Hugh Halliday's Canadian awards research has located the recommendation for his DFM of 9th July 1943 when he had flown eighteen operational flights, it reads..
"Sergeant Phillips has completed 18 operational sorties against many heavily defended targets and has displayed considerable skill and courage. On the night of 3rd July 1943, on an attack on Cologne, his aircraft was attacked by a night fighter and sustained damage making the handling of the aircraft and evasive action most difficult. After having driven off the fighter by fire from the rear turret, in spite of the fact that the bomb doors had been shot off, Sergeant Phillips proceeded towards the target and released the explosive bombs manually, showing exceptional presence of mind in not releasing his marker Target Indicators."
On the night of 2nd / 3rd August 1943 he was the pilot of Halifax HR871 tasked with an operational flight to Hamburg, outbound the aircraft flew into a thunderstorm, before they reached the target the aircraft control surfaces became effected by icing on them. Controlling the aircraft became difficult, fearing that if they should be attacked by a night-fighter or flak the pilot would not be able to take evasive action the crew opted to abandon the task of dropping the target markers. The aircraft was also struck by lightning in the forward section of the fuselage which blinded the crew. The aircraft went out of control and although the pilot recovered his sight and some control, the engines and radio had been damaged. Flying back across the North Sea was deemed impossible given the damage so the crew opted to try to head north to Sweden, on reaching the Swedish Coast the crew baled out. Phillips landed on a cow in a field! All were then interned until being repatriated in January 1944. The aircraft was discovered by chance by a team scanning the sea bed off Sweden in 2011.
The notification of his DFM being granted was not printed in the London Gazette until 17th August 1943 after he was interned in Sweden. The photograph shown above was found on "www.thelocal.se".
Halifax JB914 was built to contract ACFT/1808/C4 by English Electric Co. Ltd. at Samlesbury and was taken on charge by 405 Squadron at Leeming on 9th April 1943. The aircraft was almost certainly slightly damaged by flak on the night of 10th / 11th April 1943 though a safe landing was made at Leeming. It was swiftly repaired. On 13th April 1943 it crashed at Leeming, Cat.E/FA damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge when the paperwork caught up on 26th April 1943.
