Weir, John Emerson (Flight Sergeant)

40 Squadron (Hostem A Coelo Expellere). Wellington aircraft exploded. Addendum: Wellington aircraft Z 8782 (BL-E) exploded over Karlsruhe, Germany during a night bombing operation to Nurnberg, Germany. FS.s R.M. McIntyre, 1.J. McDonald (RAF), Sgt.s K.D. Edis (RAF), J.E. Hawkins (RAF), and R.E. Bates (RAF) were also killed. WELCH, H.M. J19121. Please see 804. The passenger killed was 23 year-old WAAF Dorothy Robson. Dorothy was known as "Bombsight Bertha". She was recruited for specialist work calibrating bomb-aiming equipment. She traveled around the north of England in an old van converted into a mobile workshop. Her love of flying and fearlessness meant Dorothy often accompanied air crews on test flights to help perfect their bomb aiming technique. While engaged on a test run over Market Weighton, near Driffield, in Humberside, her aircraft LK 681 (MP-A) crashed into high ground at Enthorpe House, Market Weighton. She was rushed to hospital but, along with everyone else on board, died from her injuries. Detail provided by David E. Thompson, Stockton-on-Tees, England. Cenotaph at Wingham Cemetery, Wingham, Huron County, Ontario, Canada Plot H69