Halifax JD152 damaged by flak, returned to Elvington airfield.
On the night of 25th / 26th May 1943 the crew of this 77 Squadron aircraft were tasked with flying an operational flight to bomb Dusseldorf and took off from Elvington airfield at 23.09hrs. They bombed the green target markers on the target area from 16,000 feet but the aircraft was slightly damaged by flak whilst over the target, the crew were able to make a safe return to Elvington and land there at 04.08hrs.
Pilot - Acting S/Ldr Frederick Kitchener Bainbridge DFC RAFVR (64285).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Frank Galsworthy Shaw RAFVR (994312).
Navigator - Sgt W Cooke.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt E Walton.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - P/O William Dewi Rees RAFVR (146276).
Air Gunner - Acting W/Co Arthur Ernest Lowe MBE RAF (42966).
Air Gunner - Sgt John Andrew Bacon RAFVR (1386461).
On 12th / 13th August 1943 Sgt Bacon was flying in Halifax JD125 on Ops to bomb Milan, the aircraft crashed in France on the return with the loss of all the crew. Sgt Bacon is buried in Verneuil-Sur-Avre Communal Cemetery, France.
Arthur Lowe was joined the RAF at the age of sixteen and trained as a wireless operator mechanic before joining 208 Squadron in 1936 where he became an air gunner. At the start of the war he was serving with 77 Squadron and was serving as aircrew during their early operational flights of the war in Whitleys. He was granted a commission in the RAF as P/O on probation on 17th January 1940, rising to F/O (War subs) on 17th January 1941 and to F/Lt (war subs) on 17th January 1942. He was appointed to an MBE on 1st January 1942 but the reasons behind this are not yet known when this webpage was created. He was later granted the rank of F/Lt on 10th March 1943 but around this time was already serving as Acting W/Co and was the Commanding Officer of 77 Squadron when the flak incident occurred. While in the rank of Acting W/Co he was awarded the DFC for service with 77 Squadron, Gazetted on 9th July 1943, and on completion of his second Tour he was posted to the CGS. Post-war he was granted a permanent commission of S/Ldr on 1st September 1945, rising to W/Co on 1st July 1947 and G/Cpt on 1st January 1957. He was appointed a CBE in June 1959 and died in February 2003.
Frank Shaw received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) on 20th April 1943 (146401), he rose to F/O on probation (war subs) on 20th October 1943 and to F/Lt (war subs) on 20th April 1945. On 20th/21st December 1943 he was flying in Halifax LL125 on Ops to Frankfurt, the aircraft was attacked and shot down by a night-fighter over Belgium and it would appear that only two of the crew (including Shaw) were able to bale out before the aircraft crashed. He became a PoW, the other survivor evaded capture while the remaining five airmen were killed. He remained in the RAFVR until reliquishing his commission on 10th February 1954.
Frederick Bainbridge received a commission on 24th April 1941 to P/O on probation and was promoted to F/O (war subs) on 24th April 1942 (with seniority back dated to 9th April 1942). He was Mentioned in Despatches on 1st January 1943, crash landed Halifax JB849 at Elvington on 18th March 1943 and was promoted to F/Lt (war subs) on 24th April 1943. He was awarded the DFC for service with 77 Squadron, Gazetted on 14th May 1943, the citation reads.."F/Lt Bainbridge has taken part in many operational sorties to targets in enemy and enemy occupied territory and also in an anti-submarine patrol". By May 1944 he was instructing with 10 OTU, on 12th May 1944 he was the pilot of Whitley Z9302 when it suffered port engine failure on take off and he force-landed the aircraft at Stanton Harcourt airfield without injury. Post-war he transferred to the Admin and Special Duties Branch and was appointed to a Class CC commission as S/Ldr on 15th December 1945. Post-war he flew with BOAC, piloting the infamous Comet. As a result of landing Constellation G-ANNT on one wheel at London Airport after hydraulic failure on 11th August 1957 he was awarded the Certificate of Commendation.
William Rees was granted a commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) on 28th April 1943 (146276) and rose to F/O on 28th October 1943. He was awarded the DFC for service with 77 Squadron, Gazetted on 6th June 1944. He was promoted to F/Lt on 28th April 1945. Postwar he transferred to the RAF, dropped to F/O under the terms of his commission but then rose to F/Lt in 1947 and then to S/Ldr on 1st January 1957, he retired from the RAF on 7th March 1962.
Halifax JD152 was built to contract ACFT/1808/C4 by English Electric Co.Ltd. at Samlesbury and was taken on charge as new by 77 Squadron at Elvington on 15th May 1943. As a result of battle damage sustained on 26th May 1943 Cat.A/FB damage was the damage assessment and it was swiftly repaired on site. On 28th May 1943 it failed to return from Ops to Essen. Cat.E(m) damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge on 30th May 1943 having clocked up total of 15.55 flying hours from new.