6 Bomber Group September 11/12, 1944
18 Halifaxes from 424, 429, and 433 squadrons were ordered on a mining operation to Kiel Bay. The crews were over the garden at 15,000 feet, sowing68@1500 lb mines. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)
148 (Special Duties) Squadron (Trusty) RAF Brindisi, Italy. Halifax B MkII aircraft BB 412 C was engaged in secret Special Operations Executive (SOE) Operations "Silica II/North/Seed/Acre", to drop supplies to partisans in the mountains of NW Italy. En-route to the Val Grande area in the vicinity of Ivrea, 45km NE of Turin, The Halifax flew into the side of a mountain about 25 metres below the summit at 23:45 in low-visibility conditions/fog twenty-five miles north-east of Turin with the loss of all aboard the aircraft
The Flight Crew: Flying Officer Joseph Miller Parkinson (RCAF), Pilot Officer John Ervin O'Brien (RCAF), Warrant Officer Class 2 Richard Alvinzie Crowell (RCAF), Flight Sergeant James Howard Ireland (RCAF), Flight Sergeant Albert Major Vanderhart (RCAF), Flight Sergeant Bruce Woodward Ellison (RNZAF), Flight Sergeant Douglas Julius Ives (RAFVR) and Sergeant Ronald McKeen (RAFVR) were all killed in action
The Passengers: Captain Charles Frederick Whitaker (British Army/SOE), Staff Captain Rudolph Hrubec (Czech Army/SOE), Lieutenant Brohuslav Nocar (Czech Army/SOE), Sergeant Rudolpho Marchiori (Royal Italian Army) and Sergeant Guido Alessandro Voglino (Royal Italian Army) were all killed in action
Trusty to the End, The History of 148 (Special Duties) Squadron 1918-1945 by Oliver Clutton-Brock
Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database
In Defense of Freedom - Halifax II BB412 of 148 RAF Squadron
Aircraft-lost-on-Allied-Forces-Special-Duties-Operations.pdf
