Halifax JD333 damaged by flak, returned to Leeming airfield.
On the night of 29th / 30th July 1943 this 408 Squadron aircraft was undertaking an operational flight to bomb Hamburg when the aircraft received minor flak damage. The crew were able to bring the aircraft safely back to base and landed at Leeming at 04.12hrs.
Pilot - Sgt Robert Allen Young RCAF (R/114096).
Navigator - Sgt Tom William Hilliard RCAF (R/225028).
Bomb Aimer - F/O Henry Steen Oien USAAF (T-190844).
Wireless Operator - P/O James Earl Sauve RCAF (J/17053).
Air Gunner - Sgt Charles Percy Miller RCAF (R/156897).
Air Gunner - Sgt Colin Murray MacDonald RCAF (R/116520).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Robert Clifford Smith RCAF (R/75465).
This crew were posted in to 408 Squadron in early July 1943, they later converted to fly the Lancaster and continued their tour with 408 Squadron. On the night of 3rd / 4th November 1943 they were flying Lancaster DS774 on Ops to Dusseldorf when the crashed or ditched into the sea off Holland. At least three of the crew managed to get into the dinghy as three bodies were eventually found in a dinghy that was washed ashore in Holland a week later. They (Hilliard, Miller and MacDonald) are buried in Rotterdam General Cemetery, Holland. The four other members of the crew were never found, as a result Young, Sauve and Smith are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Oien, being a USAAF airman is commemorated on the Cambridge Memorial in Madingley Cemetery, Cambridgeshire.