Halifax LW595 damaged in the air, landed at East Moor airfield.
During the morning of 17th July 1944 this aircraft was flown on a fighter affiliation exercise with a crew of ten. The 432 Squadron record book states that on 17th July 1944 that two fighter affiliation exercises took place and I believe that this flight relates to one of those two. At 11.15hrs the crew made a corkscrew manoeuvre was part of taking evasive action during a simulated attack by a fighter aircraft but during this the escape hatch blew off. As it fell away it struck and damaged a wing. The pilot remained in control and landed safely at East Moor where the squadron were based. The AM Form 1180 states that this aircraft was a 415 Squadron aircraft. The two named pilots on the AM Form 1180 were both 432 Squadron pilots so I make the assumption that 432 Squadron were using this aircraft for training flights while 415 Squadron got up to strength in Yorkshire having just arrived from Norfolk. Whether any of the other eight crew were 415 Squadron is debatable; I certainly wouldn't rule it out but as an AM Form 765c with the full crew list has yet to be found I cannot be sure. Please see the aircraft's history below for my version of this aircraft's history, it differs from the so-called "known" history but I believe it reflects what actually happened to the aircraft.
Pilot - F/Lt Donald Woodrow Johnson RCAF (J/8913). He was a 432 Squadron pilot and arrived on 7th July 1944 but was lost on Ops on 26th July 1944.
Pilot - Sgt J I Kerr RCAF (R/138409). He was a 432 Squadron pilot and arrived on 15th July 1944.
Eight others - Names unknown.
Halifax LW595 was built to contract ACFT/C4/C by English Electric Co.Ltd. at Samlesbury and was delivered directly to 432 Squadron at East Moor on 8th February 1944. The aircraft's AM Form 78 has some gaps in it and I have gone through all the other available records to try and give what I believe is an accurate account of it's service life. The aircraft was damage by friendly fire during a training flight on 15th March 1944 over Hull that must have seen only a Cat.A/FA damage assessment with a repair on site being made. Any higher damage would have seen the assessment recorded on the AM Form 78 and it was not. The aircraft was next used operationally by 432 Squadron on 9th April 1944. It suffered minor damage on 1st May 1944 because of an engine fire and Cat.A/FA damage would have been the damage assessment. Again, this damage is no on the AM Form 78 so cannot have been any higher. The aircraft was repaired on site at East Moor and was next used by 432 Squadron operationally on 7th May 1944. It remained in constant use by 432 Squadron on operations until 6th July 1944. Two days it had been replaced by NP693 as "-Q". What I believe happened then is that with the move was planned to bring 415 Squadron from Bircham Newton in Coastal Command to East Moor and to join Bomber Command, Halifax LW595 was one aircraft allotted to join 415 Squadron when the unit arrived in Yorkshire so it was taken off 432 Squadron charge but was not taken on charge by 415 Squadron until they arrived. The date of the arrival of 415 Squadron is slightly unclear, their own orb states it was 26th July 1944 but the East Moor station orb states that they begun training flights on 18th July 1944. The aircraft received minor damage on 17th July 1944 when the escape hatch fell off and struck a wing. On this flight it was being flown by two 432 Squadron pilots who were both new to 432 Squadron. The 432 Squadron orb stated that on this date that they flew two fighter affiliation exercises and I believe that while LW595 was allocated to 415 Squadron it was being used by 432 Squadron on 17th July 1944. I unfortunately have no proof of this. The AM Form 1180 and the AM Form 78 for this incident both state that it sustained Cat.Ac damage. A repair on site was carried out and it was returned to 415 Squadron on 25th July 1944. The aircraft was recorded as missing (Cat.E(m)), on 29th July 1944 following an operational flight when it crashed in Germany. It completed thirty four operational flights with 432 Squadron but was lost on its first with 415 Squadron.