Halifax JD332 damaged by flak, returned to Leeming airfield.
On the night of 27th / 28th July 1943 this 408 Squadron aircraft was undertaking an operational flight to bomb Hamburg when the aircraft received flak damage to the port wing. The crew were able to bring the aircraft safely back to base and landed at Leeming at 04.17hrs.
Pilot - Sgt Kenneth Lloyd Brager RCAF (R/115787).
Navigator - 1st Lt Nelson Stiller USAAF (O-886031).
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Thomas Donald Cochrane RCAF (R/146396).
Wireless Operator - Sgt Edwin Kent RAFVR (1092493).
Air Gunner - Sgt Leslie Arthur McQuestion RCAF (R/180964).
Air Gunner - Sgt Robert Wilson Ogston RCAF (R/179719).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Bernard Smith RAFVR (1684936).
This crew then received a new rear gunner and continued their tour with 408 Squadron. On the night of 20th December 1943 all were flying Lancaster DS758 on Ops to Frankfurt when the aircraft was shot down by a night-fighter piloted by Hptm Hans-Karl Kamp, of Stab III./NJG4. All but their USAAF navigator Lt Stiller are now buried in Hotton War Cemetery in Belgium. Lt Stiller's body was taken back to the USA after the war and is now buried in New York.
On 7th September 1943 Sgt's Brager, Kent, Cochrane, McQuestion, Smith and Ogston were flying in Lancaster DS732, and were in the process of converting to Lancasters. The aircraft crashed near Newton on Ouse during the fighter affiliation exercise. Robert Ogston was thrown from the rear turret and died of his injuries. He received a promotion to F/Sgt after his death and is buried in Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. He was still just nineteen years old. One of the memorial crosses issued to wives and mothers and his air gunner's brevet was sold on Ebay in March 2016. The Form AM765c does not list that a navigator flying in Lancaster DS732 when it crashed.