Just after midnight on 29th January 1944 the crew of this 76 Squadron aircraft were in the process of taking off from Holme on Spalding Moor airfield for an operational flight to bomb Berlin when the aircraft lost power, failed to gain height and then flew into trees close to the airfield. As a result of the resulting crash two members of the crew died and other members sustained injuries.
Navigator - Sgt Donald William Munson RAFVR (1395912), aged 21, of Ipswich. Buried Ipswich New Cemetery, Suffolk.
Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt Gordon Channon RAFVR (1588080), aged 19, of Feniton. Buried Feniton Churchyard, Devon.
Pilot - F/Sgt William Barlow Ward RAF (516760). Seriously injured.
? - Sgt A Ferguson RAF. Injured.
Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt James Dawber Ashton RAFVR (1023691). Injured.
? - Sgt J L Wilkinson RAF. Injured.
Air Gunner - Sgt Leslie Wilkins RAFVR (1588047). Injured.
After initial treatment at the base sick quarters Leslie Wilkins and James Ashton were later treated at Rauceby Hospital but because of the burns they received they were then transferred to East Grinstead Hospital in March 1944 and became two of the famous Guinea Pig patients.
William Ward was born in September 1914 in Manchester. He joined the RAF in 1933 at the very bottom as an Aircrafthand in 1933 but later re-mustered to an airman / air gunner, serving in the Middle East between 1936 and 1938. By Autumn 1940 he was back in the UK and was serving with 604 Squadron as an air gunner, he flew one operational flight with 604 Squadron on 1st October 1940 and by doing so qualified as being a Battle of Britain airman. In 1942 he switched trade to undertake pilot training and with this complete was posted serve in Bomber Command with 76 Squadron around the end of 1943. Because of the injuries he sustained in this accident in January 1944 he did not fly operationally again, once recovered enough he saw out the war serving as a flying instructor. He died in 1984.
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