Unidentified Halifax at Croft airfield.
The only reference I have located that mentions this incident is in the Croft airfield record book. During the evening of 23rd October 1944 either a 431 or 434 Squadron aircraft was taxying towards a dispersal at Croft when a truck drove into the starboard outer propeller of the aircraft. The lorry driver sustained serious head injuries. The aircraft sustained minor damage. There is no AM Form 1180 for this incident. Assuming that the incident occurred at night because the truck driver could not see the aircraft, otherwise why would he drive into a moving aircraft, and that the orb states the aircraft was heading back to a dispersal which I infer that the aircraft had landed earlier, I will guess that the crew of it had flown an operational sortie that evening. Both 431 Squadron and 434 Squadron were involved in flying operational sorties to Essen on the evening of 23rd October 1944. Most of the returning 431 Squadron aircraft and some from 434 Squadron landed at Newmarket. Of those that did land at Croft the only two that were not used operationally 18 hours later were Halifax NR121 of 431 Squadron and Halifax NP939 of 434 Squadron, either one of these two many have been the damaged aircraft on 23rd October 1944 but I require more information to confirm it.
Crew - Names unknown.
Lorry driver - LAC Mallard RCAF (R/267722). Fractured skull.