Date & Time:
May 31, 1942 at 0214 LT
Type of aircraft:
Avro 679 Manchester
Operator:
Registration:
L7301
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Skellingthorpe - Skellingthorpe
Country:
Belgium
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
1
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
1
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Skellingthorpe at 2301LT on May 30 on an operation to Cologne. Following an uneventful mission, the airplane returned to base when, while flying over Belgium at night, it was shot down by the German Flak. The captain ordered his crew to bail out. Sole on board, he attempted an emergency landing in Bree, some 21 km northwest of Gent. Unfortunately, the airplane went out of control and crashed in a drainage ditch and was destroyed. The captain was killed and all six others occupants evaded.
Crew (50th Squadron):
F/O Leslie Thomas Manser, pilot, †
Sgt Leslie Harold Baveystock, pilot,
P/O Richard John Barnes, radio navigator,
P/O Robert Milham Horsley, wireless operator and air gunner,
Sgt Stanley Edward King, wireless operator and air gunner,
Sgt Allan McFadyen Mills, air gunner,
Sgt Benjamin William Naylor, air gunner.
Crew (50th Squadron):
F/O Leslie Thomas Manser, pilot, †
Sgt Leslie Harold Baveystock, pilot,
P/O Richard John Barnes, radio navigator,
P/O Robert Milham Horsley, wireless operator and air gunner,
Sgt Stanley Edward King, wireless operator and air gunner,
Sgt Allan McFadyen Mills, air gunner,
Sgt Benjamin William Naylor, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by the German Flak.
