6 Group Unavailable
76 Squadron RAF (Resolute) RAF Linton-on-Ouse. Halifax B aircraft Mark II BB 242 MP-P was shot down by night fighter pilot Oberleutnant Gunther Freidrich of Stab II/NJG4 during a bombing operation against targets in Mannheim Germany. The Halifax crashed at Courouvre, France with the loss of two air crew
Rear Air-Gunner, Sergeant Alan Frank Smith (RAFVR) bailed but became entangle in the tailor trailing aerial and was killed in action. Pilot, Flying Officer William Charles Hillier MiD (RAFVR) stayed at the controls while his crew abandoned the bomber and went down with his aircraft. He initially survived the crash but sadly died from his injuries, killed in action
Sergeant Robert Law MacDonald (RCAF), Sergeant John Albert Parkin (RAFVR) and Sergeant John Edward Theckston (RAFVR) survived and initially evaded until the Mayor of Courouvre turned them over to the Germans and they were taken as Prisoners of War
However, Sergeant Herbert Joseph Bronsgrove Canter (RAFVR) and Sergeant Henry Ord Robertson DFM (RAFVR) both survived, avoided capture as EVADERS and eventually returned to England
Nachtjagd Combat Archive, The Early Years Part 3, 30 May - 31 December 1942
Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database
Search for France-Crashes 39-45
Crash of Handley Page HP57 Halifax II in Courouvre: 2 killed I ...
