Halifax BB212 crashed Topcliffe 1942

Halifax BB212 crashed Topcliffe 1942

Lovely framed board of pieces from the Halifax BB212, which crashed at Topcliffe in 1942.

Items inc Bomb firing switch plate, and four other A.M plates from the aircraft, and some of the wreckage.

On the night of 10th/11th September 1942 the crew of this 405 Squadron aircraft were to bomb Dusseldorf and took off from Topcliffe at 20.04 hrs. The bombing raid was a maximum effort on this evening. Halifax BB212 was hit by flak over Germany and the captain ordered his crew to bale out almost certainly after loosing control. Both airgunners complied , but the pilot managed to gain control of the aircraft. The wireless operator left his normal position and occupied the rear turret for the return trip to protect the aircraft and remained . Despite the damage they managed to fly the aircraft back to Yorkshire. During this time one of the blades had come loose so the engine was shut down, sadly when landing the pilot could not reduce speed due to damage to the throttle controls, so the aircraft overshot and swung off the runway and crashed into a parked Wellington BJ887 from 419 Squadron, and sadly the wireless operator died shortly after he was rescued.

The two airmen who baled out also died as never survived the fall.

Sadly the men who had survived this crash landing died a few weeks later as they were shot down over Denmark on September 24th 1942.

All info is with this piece.

Halifax BB212 crashed Topcliffe 1942