Halifax NR235 near Sutton upon Derwent.

On 3rd / 4th March 1945 the crew of this 347 Squadron aircraft took off from Elvington airfield at 18.18hrs to undertake an operational flight to bomb Kamen. They bombed the target area at 22.06hrs from around 18,500 feet and made the return to Yorkshire. On their return to the general area of Elvington airfield they were still in the air at the time the Luftwaffe intruder attacks, named "Operation Gisela" began. At around 01.10hrs this aircraft was attacked by a Junkers Ju88 and set on fire, with the fire spreading the pilot ordered his crew to abandon the aircraft. The six crew left the aircraft and landed safely but as the sixth left the aircraft began to dive towards the ground leaving the pilot no change to then make good his escape, he was killed when the Halifax crashed on land near Glebe Farm, east of Sutton upon Derwent at around 01.15hrs and the pilot was sadly killed. The pilot was initially buried at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire but in the years after the Second World War all French airmen buried there were exhumed and returned to France, his current burial location was unknown when I created this webpage. Halifax NR179 may well have crashed in the same area as Halifax NR235 around the same time, while NR179 is generally believed to have crashed at Fridaythorpe the death registrations of its crew and references to Sutton upon Derwent in the crews casualty files also suggest that NR179 crashed in the same area as NR235. Or with the confusion of what had happened on this night there was a mix up with recording of the crash site of NR179.

Pilot - Ltn Jean Marie Bernard Louis Terrien FFAF (00479), aged 30. Burial location unknown.

Navigator - Ltn Roland Mosnier FFAF (004923).

Bomb Aimer - Slt R Michelon FFAF.

Flight Engineer - Adj Jean-Charles Puthier FFAF (0035477).

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgc Clovis Dugardin FFAF.

Air Gunner - Sgt Remi Delaroche FFAF.

Air Gunner - Sgt A Dunand FFAF.

Jean Marie Terrien was born in June 1914 at Nantes, France and was flying in the French Air Force by early 1940. As France fell he flew across to North Africa when his unit withdrew. He was subsequently awarded the Legion d'honneur after his death, the citation stated that his actions in remaining at the controls of the burning aircraft had allowed his crew to make good their escape but in remaining at the controls he had left it too late to make his own escape and that he had sacrificed his own life to save his crew.

Back to monthly table.