On the evening of 5th March 1945 the crew of this 466 Squadron aircraft took off from Driffield airfield at 16.49hrs to undertake an operational flight to bomb Chemnitz. Due to unforecast freezing fog clouds that occurred soon after taking off a large number of the No.4 Group bombing force suffered problems due to their aircraft icing up, some crashed with fatal results. This aircraft entered the cloud, iced up and the pilot began to loose control, the crew jettison the bomb load and some of the crew baled out while in the cloud but the aircraft then descended below the freezing cloud and the icing problem disappeared. With control being regained at just 800 feet the pilot flew to and then landed the aircraft at Carnaby airfield at 17.38hrs. The aircraft appears to have been undamaged. Sadly one member of the crew died as a result of making a bad landing, believed to have been in the Bridlington area.
Pilot - F/O Ronald Stanley Swain RAAF (422911).
Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt Reginald E Roff RAF (641559).
Navigator - F/Sgt Colin Brian Harrison RAFVR (1622423)
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt Frederick Charles Henry Ray RAAF (434011), aged 21, of Freshwater, Queensland, Australia. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (H/K/4).
Flight Engineer - F/Sgt Edward George Richard Gates RAF (650149).
Air Gunner - Sgt Leonard Jeffrey Bocking RAFVR (3031629).
Air Gunner - Sgt Frank Bristow RAFVR (3032225).
Frederick Ray and his grave at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. He was born on 7th January 1924 in Cairns, Queensland, Australia and enlisted for RAAF service in Brisbane. He and the rest of this crew were posted into 466 Squadron during November 1944. I cannot locate his death in the English deaths index possibly suggesting that he landed in the sea, drowned and was later washed ashore at Bridlington.
Ronald Swain was later awarded the DFC for service with 466 Squadron, Gazetted on 6th November 1945.
Edward Gates received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 19th March 1945 and rose to F/O six months later.