On the evening of 1st January 1945 this aircraft took off from Pocklington airfield at 16.45hrs to undertake an operational flight to bomb Dortmund and were one of a number of 102 Squadron aircraft taking part in the raid. On their return to Yorkshire in total ten aircraft were to have landed at Pocklington, the first nine landed safely and LW158 was to be the last in the landing circuit to go in to land. The visibility was adequate around the time the aircraft were landing and the first nine didn't experience any trouble in landing. During the first approach to land the tail wheel of this aircraft failed to lock down properly so the crew successfully made an overshoot and went around again for another try at landing. They then made another two further overshoots because they were not properly lined up with the runway in use. On their fourth attempt at landing the aircraft was not flying high enough as it made the final approach, a wing tip struck a tree then a house at Riverhead (now "Canal Head") on the approach to the land, but still 700 yards short of the end of the runway, and it crashed shortly after at 22.25hrs and came to rest across a hedge badly damaged. Unfortunately one member of the crew was sadly killed as a result of the accident and the pilot received fairly serious head injuries. The other members of the crew appear to have escaped serious injury and the occupants of the house are not thought to have been injured.
Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt James Harvey Sherridan RAFVR (1563203), aged 35, of Galashiels. Buried Eastlands Cemetery, Galashiels, Scotland.
Pilot - P/O Maxwell Owen Langham RAAF (408374). Injured.
Navigator - F/Sgt K Knight RAFVR (1581763).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt J Coleman RAFVR (1743364).
Air Gunner - Sgt Frederick Charles Edward Westwood RAFVR (1894980).
Air Gunner - Sgt S Bettney RAFVR (1595364).
Flight Engineer - Sgt E Davies RAFVR (1836701 ?).
Maxwell Langham was born on 27th June 1922 at Penguin, Tasmania and was the son of Mervyn Robert and Langham. He was working as a school teacher at Lanaba school, Tasmania when he enlisted for RAAF service in Hobart on 30th January 1942 and after training as a pilot received his Wings on 8th January 1943. On arrival in the UK he trained at 15 (O)AFU, 21 OTU and 1659 HCU before being posted to 102 Squadron on 24th November 1944. He received a commission on 29th August 1944 to the rank of P/O and rose to F/O six months later. He recovered from his injuries and returned home where he died in 2006.