On the night of 3rd / 4th March 1945 the crew of this 76 Squadron aircraft took off from Holme on Spalding Moor airfield at 18.18hrs to undertake an operational flight to bomb Kamen. All appears to have gone without incident over the target and they had safely returned to the landing circuit of Holme on Spalding Moor airfield. At 00.45hrs while awaiting their turn to land a Luftwaffe intruder Junkers Ju88 attacked this aircraft which damaged the aircraft and also wounded the mid upper gunner in the head. What is then likely to have happened is that the airfield lighting at Holme on Spalding Moor was switched out and all of their aircraft still in the air were diverted away to other airfields to make landings, this aircraft was diverted to Carnaby and at 01.10hrs it landed there but over-ran and crashed into a parked aircraft that had already landed and also a steam roller. The injured mid upper gunner was taken to the sick quarters at Carnaby airfield but sadly his injuries were too severe and he died at 02.00hrs. I have found an account relating to this incident which stated that one of the main undercarriage legs collapsed on landing at Carnaby when it entered an uncontrolled swing and the aircraft began to slide towards the control tower, it was only avoided by turning the aircraft more to the side the aircraft was swing to which avoided a collision with the control tower but took it into the parked aircraft.
Air Gunner - P/O William Thomas Maltby RCAF (J/93797), aged 19, of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (H/G/12).
Pilot - P/O Paul Oleynik RCAF (J/88561). Uninjured.
Flight Engineer - Sgt H C Firmin RAFVR (1894225). Uninjured.
Navigator - F/Sgt D G MacMillan RCAF (R/204868). Uninjured.
Bomb Aimer - WO2 J D M M Menard RCAF (R/171308). Uninjured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt R J Freeman RCAF (R/187971). Uninjured.
Air Gunner - F/Sgt R C MacDougall RCAF (R/261626). Uninjured.
William Maltby was born on 29th August 1925 at Stratford, Ontario, Canada and was the son of Thomas and Madeline (nee Walsh) Maltby. The family lived in Ontario and Kamloops, British Columbia until 1937 when they moved to California, USA but then returned to Canada in 1940 or 1941 settling at Kamloops. After leaving school he started an apprenticeship at a garage as a mechanic. He enlisted for RCAF service in Vancouver on 9th July 1943 and trained as an air gunner, receiving his air gunners' flying badge on 28th January 1944. On arrival in the UK he trained at 19 OTU, 20 OTU and either 1652 or 1658 HCU before posting to 76 Squadron on 9th December 1944. He received a commission on 7th February 1945. The gravestone photograph shown above is taken from the CVWM website.
Paul Oleynik was born in April 1924 at Windsor, Ontario, Canada and was the son of Russian and Ukrainian parents who had emigrated to Canada. He enlisted for RCAF service in 1942 and while in the UK would meet his future wife. After the war they later married in Canada and he worked for United Airlines in Detroit. He died in Windsor, Ontario in June 2008.