Halifax LW443 at Lissett airfield.

On the evening of 20th January 1944 640 Squadron flew their first operational sortie since forming a few weeks earlier with the target being Berlin. Halifax LW443 was one of the aircraft to be used and it took off at 16.46hrs (probably from Lissett where A-Flight were still based and not Leconfield where the Squadron were in the process of becoming operational). Just before 17.16hrs and over the North Sea the port inner engine began to suffer problems with fluctuating revs so had to be shut down and the propeller feathered. At 17.11hrs the crew jettisoned the bomb load from 6,000 feet and made for home. At 17.49hrs the aircraft landed at Lissett but with drift and in bad visibility it swung off the runway. It came to rest with undercarriage damaged and it's back broken. The rear gunner was found unconscious in his turret and was taken to sick quarters but cannot have been seriously injured as he flew operationally the following night.

Pilot - P/O Alan Cargill Smart RAFVR (161078).

Pilot - Sgt Robert Hanson Fry RAFVR (971657).

Navigator - F/O Edward William Coulson RAFVR (1336350).

Air Bomber - Sgt Herbert Noel Broadbent RAFVR (1539648).

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - P/O Desmond Harry Valentine Walton RAFVR (168516).

Flight Engineer - Sgt Kenneth Arthur Seaborn RAF (577734).

Air Gunner - Sgt Kenneth Woolley RAFVR (1450054).

Air Gunner - Sgt John Thomas Webster Green Norris RAFVR (1622376).