Halifax RG622 at Holme on Spalding Moor airfield.
At 11.20hrs on 18th April 1945 the crew of this 76 Squadron aircraft were in the process of taking off from Holme on Spalding Moor airfield to undertake an operational flight to bomb a naval base at Heligoland when the aircraft swung off the runway, ground looped and the undercarriage collapsed. The aircraft skidded to a halt and caught fire. The crew all escaped injury and but clear of the wreckage which later exploded. This aircraft was eleventh in line to take off from Holme on Spalding Moor airfield for the operational order but it then blocked the runway preventing any others from taking off.
Pilot - WO R Holmes RAFVR (1335075).
Flight Engineer - Sgt W Blatchford RAFVR (1865433).
Navigator - F/Lt Ernest Alfred John Haskett RAF (52867).
Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt J Krochak RCAF (R/217005).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt J Rutherford RAFVR (1823413).
Air Gunner - Sgt Stanley George Petts RAFVR (1810592).
Air Gunner - Sgt G M Jones RAFVR (1528213).
F/Lt Haskett was posted to 76 Squadron from 578 Squadron on 19th March 1945.
Of those listed above Holmes, Blatchford, Krochak, Rutherford and Jones were posted in to 76 Squadron from 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit as part of the same crew on 6th April 1945.