Halifax NA170 at Carnaby airfield.
On the evening of 5th January 1945 the crew of this 76 Squadron aircraft undertook an operational flight to bomb Hannover and took off from Holme on Spalding Moor airfield at 16.46hrs. The crew released their bomb load over the target area at 19.23hrs from 17,000 feet and returned to the skies of Yorkshire. As they prepaped to land the undercarriage was lowered but the pilot suspected that there was a fault in the electrical system that warned of a problem with it. Suspecting that the undercarriage was not properly locked down a belly landing was made at Carnaby at 23.00hrs. Cat.B damage was the initial damage assessment and it would normally have been taken away for a factory repair following this damage.
Pilot - P/O Richard John Philip Barrell RAFVR (1397389).
Bomb Aimer - F/O Rodolphe Joseph Lorenzo Boucher RCAF (J/24483).
Navigator - F/Sgt Lionel Eric Cannock RAFVR (1339403).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Francis Wheater Heron RAFVR (1038772).
Air Gunner - Sgt Humphrey Brown Tennant RAFVR (1628710).
Flight Engineer - P/O Harold Osbourn RAF (56456).
Air Gunner - Sgt G F Terry RAFVR (1874506).
On 27th February 1945 all of those named above were flying 76 Squadron Halifax LL579 on an operational flight to Mainz when the aircraft was badly damaged over Germany. Barrell and Terry were able to bale and and survived to become PoWs while everyone else was killed and are buried Rheinberg War Cemetery.
Richard Barrell received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 26th December 1944 but appears to have been in the rank of Acting F/Lt by February 1945. Humphrey Osbourn received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 3rd December 1944.
Barrell, Osbourn, Tennant and Terry were injured in the crash of Halifax HR748 at North Dalton on 13th July 1944 while training at 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit. The crash sadly killed two of their original crew.