Wellington LN281 at East Moor airfield.
This aircraft took off from East Moor at 23.08hrs on 24th June 1943 tasked with bombing Wuppertal. At 03.54hrs the Wellington was landing at East Moor on return when a tyre burst and both propeller units, the starboard wing, engine and the bomb doors were damaged when the undercarriage legs gave way.
Pilot - P/O Keith McLean Johnston RCAF (J/16067), of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Navigator - Sgt Howard William Clarke RCAF (R/130684), of Talbot, Alberta, Canada.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Frank William Robert Frost RAF (1320228).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Joseph Arthur Marcel Lortie RCAF (R/79144), of St.Agathe des Monte, Quebec, Canada.
Rear Gunner - Lt J C Elliott USAAF (0885955).
Nothing more is known of the rest of the crew listed above.
Keith Johnston was born on 26th December 1917 in Vancouver and was the son of John Thomas and Margaret Ann (nee Thomson) Johnston. He enlisted for RCAF service on 26th February 1941 in Vancouver and undertook basic pilot training, being awarded his Pilot's Wings on 4th October 1941. On arrival in the UK in early 1942 he spent a few months with No.51 Group Pool and No.4 EFTS before being posted to 3 (P)AFU on 29th December 1942 and 22 OTU on 23rd March 1943. He was posted to 429 Squadron from 22 OTU on 23rd May 1943 (along with Clarke, Frost and Lortie) but was killed on 26th July 1943. He and the above listed airmen were in Wellington HE803 when it was shot down by a night-fighter, F/O Johnston force-landed the damaged aircraft but then tried to take off again and clipped trees and the aircraft then crash killing him but his crew escaped and were taken PoW. F/O Johnston was twenty five years old and is now buried in Bergen-op-Zoom Canadian Cemetery, Holland. He had married Elizabeth Robertson Smith, of Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland on 25th July 1941.
Wellington LN281 was built to contract B124362/40 by Vickers Armstrong Ltd at Chester and was delivered into MU storage in October 1942. It was issued to 429 Squadron at East Moor in early June 1943 before suffering Cat.B/FB mishap at East Moor on 25th June 1943. The damaged aircraft was taken away and repaired in works and on completion of the repair it was issued to 14 OTU at Market Harborough in late-1943. It was destroyed with Cat.E2/FA damage recorded on 13th August 1944 when an engine cut out in the air and the aircraft stalled and crashed four miles north of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire killing seven and injuring one.