Date & Time:
Feb 26, 1942 at 0545 LT
Type of aircraft:
Short S.29 Stirling
Operator:
Registration:
N6067
Flight Phase:
Landing (descent or approach)
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Wyton - Wyton
Country:
United Kingdom
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
8
Crew fatalities:
1
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
1
Aircraft flight hours:
18
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Wyton at 2337LT on February 25 on an operation to Kiel. While returning to base the following night, the airplane went off course. Due to lack of fuel, the crew diverted to RAF Mildenhall but the engine failed on approach. It crash landed in a field and came to rest against a stone wall, about 200 yards from the airbase. Seven crew members escaped uninjured while the front gunner was killed.
Crew:
S/L Matthew Drummond Henderson Wilson, pilot,
Sgt Robert Lorraine Melville, copilot,
Sgt Ely, flight engineer,
F/O Clifford G. Reeve, navigator,
Sgt Daniel Lammie, bomb aimer,
Sgt Johnnie Noel Spalding, air gunner,
Sgt William Edmund Chambers, air gunner,
Lt Louis Bingham Murray, air gunner. †
Crew:
S/L Matthew Drummond Henderson Wilson, pilot,
Sgt Robert Lorraine Melville, copilot,
Sgt Ely, flight engineer,
F/O Clifford G. Reeve, navigator,
Sgt Daniel Lammie, bomb aimer,
Sgt Johnnie Noel Spalding, air gunner,
Sgt William Edmund Chambers, air gunner,
Lt Louis Bingham Murray, air gunner. †
Probable cause:
Engine failure caused by a fuel exhaustion.
