Halifax JD118 damaged by flak, returned to Snaith airfield.

This aircraft took off from Snaith at 23.44hrs on 25th June 1943 to undertake an operational flight to bomb Gelsenkirchen. The aircraft bombed the target area at 01.44hrs but the mid upper turret received flak damage while over the target. 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 04.30hrs. The squadron record book does not list the mid upper gunner as being injured so I assume the damage to the turret was just minor damage to the perspex. The aircraft was repaired and later served with 78 Squadron only to be written off in a crash near North Cave in November 1943.

Pilot - Sgt John Bradley Morris RAFVR (1339414),

Navigator - Sgt D P Storey (probably Sgt David Philip Storey RAFVR (1334123)).

Bomb Aimer - F/O James Binham RAFVR (133804).

Wireless Operator - P/O Arthur Hobhouse Hebblethwaite RAFVR (136499).

Flight Engineer - Sgt J Russell.

Air Gunner - Sgt P J T Finn (probably Sgt John Patrick Terence Finn RAFVR (1029363)).

Air Gunner - Sgt Raymond Vernon Boyd RAFVR (1308219), of Cokeham, Sussex.

Just four days after this minor flak incident Sgt Boyd was killed flying with a different crew in Halifax DT513 on Ops to Cologne on 29th June 1943. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter off Holland. He was twenty two years old and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
John Morris was granted a commission on 20th August 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) (156070). He was awarded the DFC for service with 51 Squadron, Gazetted on 23rd May 1944. By the end of the war he had been promoted to F/O and later to F/Lt.
Arthur Hebblethwaite received his commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) on 29th December 1942 and was promoted to F/O on 29th June 1943. He was awarded the DFC for service with 51 Squadron, Gazetted on 15th September 1944. His brother posted on webforums stating that he received the Bar to the DFC but I cannot locate the reference to this in the London Gazette so would welcome more details. He appears to have ended the war a PoW but I have not yet located the details surrounding this. He was promoted to F/Lt on 29th December 1944.
James Binham received his commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) on 6th November 1942 and was promoted to F/O on 6th May 1943. For service with 51 Squadron he was awarded the DFC, Gazetted on 27th June 1944 (the same London Gazette as Cyril Barton's VC). He relinquished his commission on the grounds of ill health on 7th September 1944 which during the war this was unusual. He died in July 2010 in Devon.
The Sgt D P Storey listed above was probably David Philip Storey RAFVR (1334123/157623) who was later commissioned on 11th September 1943 and was awarded the DFC for service with 51 Squadron, Gazetted on 23rd May 1944.
The "Sgt P J T Finn" was almost certain incorrect, he was probably John Patrick Terence Finn RAFVR (1029363), by July 1944 he was flying with 466 Squadron and survived baling out of Halifax MZ313 on 18th July 1944. He managed to evade capture and return to the UK.
The 51 Squadron ORB lists the flight engineer as being a Sgt J Russell on this flight, there was a Allan Sharp Russell RAFVR (1392536/159436) who was later awarded the DFC for service with 51 Squadron and he may well be the same person though he appears to have been a navigator.