On the evening of 19th November 1943 the crew of this 51 Squadron aircraft took off from Snaith airfield at 16.36hrs for an operational flight to bomb Leverkusen. While over the Dusseldorf area the aircraft received flak damage, both mainplanes and the port outer engine received damage and the port outer engine had to be shut down. The crew released their bomb load over Dusseldorf and made for home, they were able to fly the aircraft back to base of Snaith airfield and land safely at 22.40hrs on three engines.
Pilot - P/O Michael Clifford Foster RAFVR (156626).
Second Pilot - W/O S Key.
Navigator - F/Sgt G B Page RNZAF.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Patrick Anthony Hughes RAFVR (1267383).
Wireless Operator - Sgt Walter Willetts RAFVR (1178591).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Wallace Arthur Clarke RAFVR (1604593).
Air Gunner - Sgt John Gordon Service RAFVR (1603926).
Air Gunner - Sgt William Twort RAFVR (1326420).
Patrick Hughes received a commission on 5th May 1944 and rose to F/O six months later.
Wallace Clarke received a commission on 10th August 1944 and rose to F/O six months later.
John Service received a commission on 6th May 1944, rose to F/O six months later and probably scraped into a promotion to F/Lt in May 1946 just before the RAF post-war shake up which saw the vast majority of all war substantive commissioned officers leave the armed forces and return to civilian life.
Michael Foster received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 21st August 1943 and rose to F/O six months later. He was awarded the DFC for service with 51 Squadron, Gazetted on 14th March 1944, the citation states "This officer has attacked many targets in Germany, including Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover and Leipzig. Throughout his tour he has displayed great skill and his determination to complete his tasks successfully has been most evident. On one occasion, during a sortie against Mannheim, his aircraft was severely damaged in an encounter with fighter. One engine was put out of action, the starboard main-plane and the ailerons were damaged. A fire broke out in the starboard wing and burned for more than an hour. The aircraft became very difficult to control but, displaying exceptional skill and resolution, Pilot Officer Foster flew it back to this country." By the time his DFC had gone from a recommendation to an award printed in the London Gazette he was already serving with (initially on detachment to?) 578 Squadron, having been posted there when it formed, flew the first operational sortie with 578 Squadron on 20th January 1944. Further information is on the "www.578squadron.org.uk" website. Post-WW2 he remained in the RAF until February 1952.