Date & Time:
Apr 25, 1944 at 0422 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax III
Operator:
Registration:
LK789
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Holme - Holme
Country:
United Kingdom
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
6
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
6
Circumstances:
The crew was returning to RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor following a bombing mission over Karlsruhe. En route, the aircraft was shot down by the pilot of a German Messerschmitt Me.410 and crashed in Colony Farm, near Manea. A crew member was rescued while all six other occupants were killed. Claim by Lt Wolfgang Wenning Stab II/KG51 at an altitude of 1,000 meters.
Crew (76th Squadron):
P/O D.R. Dibbins, pilot,
Sgt G.J. Head, flight engineer,
Sgt K.C. Oswald, navigator,
F/S J.R. Bathe, bomb aimer,
Sgt J.G. Davenport, wireless operator and air gunner,
Sgt N.M. Harrison, mid upper gunner,
F/S J. Anderson, tail gunner.
Crew (76th Squadron):
P/O D.R. Dibbins, pilot,
Sgt G.J. Head, flight engineer,
Sgt K.C. Oswald, navigator,
F/S J.R. Bathe, bomb aimer,
Sgt J.G. Davenport, wireless operator and air gunner,
Sgt N.M. Harrison, mid upper gunner,
F/S J. Anderson, tail gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
