6 Group Unavailable
144 aircraft- 120 Halifaxes, 16 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitoes-of 4, 6 and 8 Groups. The bombing force, particularly the second of the 2 waves, was intercepted by German fighters and 14 Halifaxes and I Lancaster were shot down. Only one part of the railway yards was hit by the bombing. The only Lancaster lost was that of Squadron Leader E. M. Blenkinsopp, a Canadian pilot of 405 Squadron who was acting as Deputy Master Bomber. Blenkinsopp managed to team up with a Belgian Resistance group and remained with them until captured by the Germans in December 1944. He was taken to Hamburg to work as a forced labourer and later died in Belsen concentration camp 'of heart failure'. He has no known grave.
432 Leaside Squadron (Saeviter ad Lucem) RAF East Moor. Halifax BIII aircraft LK 807 QO-J was shot down returning from an operation to bomb the railyards at Montzen, Belgium by night fighter pilot Leutnant Ewald-Werner Hittler of the 3/NJG 1, who was flying an He 219 from Venlo airfield in the Netherlands. The Halifax crashed near Hanneche, Burdinne, Liege, Belgium
Rear Air-Gunner Sergeant RDA Harmsworth (RAFVR) was killed in action
Bomb Aimer Warrant Officer Class II (RCAF) and Flight Engineer S Musgrove (RAFVR) survived and were taken as Prisoners of War
The remaining four crew members, Flying Officer APG Holmes (RCAF), Flying Officer DM MacAulay (RCAF), Flight Sergeant G Millar (RCAF) and Sergeant GEH Flather (RAFVR) all survived and became Evaders
There were three 432 Squadron Halifax III aircraft lost on this operation. Please see aircraft serials LW592 QO-A and MZ 588 QO-W for additional information on those aircraft and crews
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
[Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...
"Belgians Remember Them": RAF aircraft's crash sites: Hanneche
Hanneche - Halifax III LK807 QO-J 432 Squadron RAF - Halifax JD371...
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