Halifax NP811 damaged in the air, landed at Carnaby airfield.
On the night of 16th / 17th January 1945 this 426 Squadron aircraft was flown on an operational flight to bomb Magdeburg and took off from Linton on Ouse airfield at 19.15hrs. A problem with the starboard outer engine cut out just after taking off but then restarted, it worked satisfactory up to cruising power though would not give enough power to assist the aircraft in climbing. The crew continued towards the target area and released their bomb load from 19,000 feet at 21.50hrs. Shortly after releasing their bomb load this aircraft began to climb to make use of cloud cover. At 21.53hrs while climbing Halifax NP811 struck 420 Squadron Halifax MZ378 from below at 18,000 feet roughly at right angle to each other. NP811 sustained major damage to the port wing with a third of flying surface cut off outboard of port outer engine from the aileron trim on the aileron to the leading edge of the wing tip. The port tail fin and rudder lost about a foot off the top and a hole was made in the fuselage behind rear access door. Despite this pretty serious damage the pilot remained in control and managed to land at Carnaby at 01.05hrs. Sadly the 426 Squadron orb scribe only listed the pilot's by name on operational sorties during the this period. Halifax MZ378 also landed at Carnaby and the pilot of this aircraft was awarded the DFC for bringing his aircraft back. The pilot of NP811 was not awarded anything which suggests that this crew were to blame for the collision occurring.
Pilot - F/O Morris Edwin Fraser RCAF (J/89414).