Halifax LW274 at Lissett airfield.
On the night of 23rd / 24th September 1943 this 158 Squadron aircraft undertook an operational flight to bomb Mannheim and they took off from Lissett airfield at 18.36hrs. The crew released their bomb load on the target area from 16,500 feet at 22.05hrs. On the return flight and while roughly over Portsmouth the crew appear to have calculated that the aircraft would be running low on fuel by the time they arrived at Lissett but they did nothing to land sooner to refuel. On their approach to land at Lissett at 02.12hrs the aircraft was indeed running low on fuel resulting in both starboard engines cutting out. The pilot was unable to control the swing that resulted with the power only on the port side. The aircraft struck a flood light either on landing, or just prior to touching down and was slightly damaged.
Pilot - Sgt John David Pennington Cotter RAFVR (1334026)
Navigator - Sgt Victor Clare Hicks RCAF (R/121361)
Bomb Aimer - P/O Norman Ernest Hawkridge RAFVR (136883).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Harold Kenneth Scott Reid RAFVR (1367367).
Air Gunner - Sgt William Gerald Edward Griffiths RAFVR (1282915).
Air Gunner - Sgt Walter Lomax RAFVR (1699855).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Ronald Rooney RAF (622554).