6 Group Unavailable
640 Squadron RAF Leconfield. Halifax III aircraft LK 866 C8-L was engaged in an operation to bomb rail facilities around Versailles France when it was shot down by Lt Heinz Reuter of 7/NJG2 about 70 km South-West of Paris, crashing at Soulaires, Eure-et-Loire France
The pilot, Flying Officer Ian MacKenzie Hamilton (RCAF) and Sergeant John William Lane (RAFVR) were both killed in action
Flying Officer Harold Denis Bastable (RCAF), Sergeant Ivan Leslie Horler (RAFVR), Sergeant Alexander Campbell Noble (RAFVR) and Flight Sergeant Andrew Rowe (RAFVR) all evaded for a time until being betrayed and arrested. Sergeants Horler and Noble were sent to Stalag Luft 1. Flying Officer Bastable and Flight Sergeant Rowe were held at Fresnes Prison in France before being deported to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. The German Luftwaffe intervened on behalf of 168 Allied Prisoners of War deported to Buchenwald and was able to transfer all but two, who sadly died in Buchenwald to Luftwaffe controlled POW camps. Bastable and Rowe were eventually both sent on to Stalag Luft 3
Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database
07/08 06 1944 640 Squadron Halifax LK866 Plt Off Ian M Hamilton RAF...