Halifax MZ511 at Burn airfield.
On the night of 18th / 19th April 1944 this 578 Squadron aircraft was used to flying an operational flight to bomb railway marshalling yards at Tergnier, France and took off from Burn airfield at 20.51hrs. The crew released their load on to the target area from 14,400 feet at 23.36hrs. On landing at Burn at 02.14hrs this aircraft struck a bomb on the runway that had fallen from the aircraft that had landed previously to MZ511. Unfortunately the tail wheel of MZ511 bore the brunt of the damage and the tail wheel oleo broke. The bomb had been a hung-up bomb with 578 Squadron only carrying 500lb and larger bombs on this night. The squadron orb has Halifax LV937 as the aircraft that landed the one previous to MZ511 landing and two minutes earlier so was probably the source of the bomb.
Pilot - F/Sgt Eric Raymond Bowdon RAFVR (1214197).
Navigator - Sgt D Owen.
Air Bomber - F/Sgt James Richardson Vose RAFVR (1343320).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt David Alastair Moncrieff RAF (536751).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Max Clegg RAFVR (1053669).
Air Gunner - Sgt James McLachlan Malcolm RAFVR (1569763).
Air Gunner - Sgt James William Firth RAFVR (1453649).