During the morning of 6th July 1944 347 Squadron were tasked with flying a daylight operational flight to France to bomb Mimoyecques where a massive V-3 Supergun installation was sited. The specific aircraft took off from Elvington at 06.45hrs with the route south being roughly down the east coast of England, using the first navigation point of Goole and flying roughly the same route home. All appears to have gone without incident for much of the whole squadron though three aircraft sustained flak damage though Halifax LK728 does not appear to have been damaged by flak. Bad weather on the return to Yorkshire appears to have affected landing and a number of the returning aircraft were diverted away to land with landings being made at Carnaby, Driffield and Riccall. As Halifax LK728 crossed over the Lindholme airfield area it was seen to be spinning down through cloud and then crashed in the Thorne / Moorends area at 09.30hrs. Sadly all on board were killed.
A possible witness to this incident, Geoffrey Smith, sought information from readers of the Daily Mail newspaper in October 2009, he was three years old at the time and believed that the aircraft involved was a Luftwaffe aircraft. There were no Luftwaffe aircraft crashes in the general area of Thorne but that is a typical mistake to make. Historian Eric Barton corresponded with him and he stated that the aircraft he witnessed crashed in a field just east of Coulman Road, Thorne. That said there were a number of aircraft that the locations are listed as being between Moorends and Thorne but most were before this Halifax in date and probably before he would recall anything. Another location suggested in research carried out by Eric Barton was land just west of the Marshland Road in Moorends and now occupied by a housing estate. I would welcome additional information to pinpoint where the aircraft came down.
Pilot - Slt Gilbert Charles Varlet FFAF (C11565), aged 34. Initially buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. Buried Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.
Navigator - Adj Andre Charlier FFAF (1457), aged 31. Initially buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. Body since returned to France, burial location unknown.
Bomb Aimer - Ltn Gerard Maurice Henri Chapron FFAF (812), aged 25. Initially buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. Buried Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.
Flight Engineer - Slt Jean Vieules FFAF (3885). Initially buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. Buried Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.
Wireless Operator - Adj Rene Louis Charaudeaux FFAF (9554). Initially buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. Buried Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.
Air Gunner - Adj Paul Alphonse Eckhardt FFAF (15175), aged 30. Initially buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. Body since returned to France, burial location unknown.
Air Gunner - Sgt Pierre Georges Henri Godard FFAF (R467). Initially buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. Buried Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.
This crew flew on the first 347 Squadron operational flight in June 1944 and they were the first 347 Squadron crew to be lost on an operational flight. Varlet, Charlier, Chapron and Eckhardt all have entries in the English death index and all appear to have had graves in their names (as was normal) so I assume all were identified at the time of recovery. Charaudeaux, Vieules and Godard are different, they are now buried in the same grave in Brookwood Cemetery and all three are not listed on the English death index. I assume from this that the remains of all three recovered was minimal so none could be identified at the time of recovery, these three were then initially buried in the same grave at Harrogate. Technically the site at Thorne is not a wargrave but I would suggest it probably shouldn't be far from being regarded as such. A memorial to this crew is to be found in France at Mimoyecques.