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HX345
Halifax III HD-Y
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| 28th January 1944 | ||||||||
| Pilot | Bomb Aimer | Navigator | Wireless Operator | Flight Engineer | Mid Upper Gunner | Rear Gunner | 2nd Pilot | |
| P/O G B Coombes | P.O. R R Last | P/O L D Anderson | F/S P P Balderston | Sgt J T Causier | Sgt R Nelson | P/O C J Trotman | F/O R D Hughes | |
| RAAF - P.o.W. | P.o.W. | RAAF | RAAF - P.o.W. | P.o.W. | RAAF | RAAF - P.o.W. | ||
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left to right:- PO G B Coombes. P/O L D Anderson. P/O C J Trotman. F/S P P Balderston. standing in front of Wellington X HE989 HD-Y |
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| Take Off :- 00:25 | Base :- RAF Leconfield | Mission :- Berlin | ||||||
| Details :- After being hit by flak and losing an engine they elected to carry on. They were then shot down by a Ju88 from 20,000ft and came down at Biesdorf, 10km East South East from the centre of Berlin. | ||||||||
| 677 aircraft including 241 Halifax detailed on the mission, 26 Halifax aircraft were lost including HX233, HX294 and HX345 from 466 Squadron. | ||||||||
| Sgt Nelson is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. | ||||||||
| P/O Anderson and P/O Trotman were buried in Elsgrund near Berlin until 1949 before being re-buried in the Berlin 1939 - 1945 War Cemetery. | ||||||||
| P/O Coombes - PoW number is 1810 in camps 9C/L3. | ||||||||
| P/O Last - PoW number is 3575 in camp L3. | ||||||||
| F/S Balderston - PoW number is 970 in camps L6/357. | ||||||||
| Sgt Causier - PoW number is 1090 in camps L6/357. | ||||||||
| F/O Hughes - PoW number is 1064 in camps L6/L4. | ||||||||
| Photo of P/O R R Last kindly donated by his daughter Sheila Leech | ||||||||
Crew
photo courtesy of Australian War Memorial |
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If you have anything to add or talk about concerning this crew then please contact me on the address below, halifaxlv827@yahoo.co.uk |
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