At 2255 on 25/5/44 Halifax Mk III LV905 EY-W "Rothman W~Willie" departed RAF Breighton and joined 431 other Bomber Command Aircraft as they set course to attack railway marshalling yards at Aachen, Germany.
On the return flight, the aircraft was shot down by a Me 110 night fighter and crashed in flames at Hank, Holland at 0130 with the loss of all seven crew;
P P/O Eric "Tug" Wilson
FE Sgt William White
N F/O Sidney "Sid" Peterson RCAF
BA F/O Norman Marston DFC
WOP F/Sgt Joe Henderson
MUG Sgt George "Rex" Butler
RG F/Sgt Joe Le Blanc RCAF
The story of what happened to LV905 since then is (I believe?) well documented
The propeller unit from the No 3 (Starboard Inner) engine of LV905 now forms the centre piece of our memorial outside our hangar here at Benson. The actual engine is back at Breighton and due to form a new memorial to be dedicated to all aircrew lost on Ops at Breighton (460 Sqn RAAF & 78 Sqn RAF) later this year
I took multiple images of the Memorial this morning however three attempts to upload the images have proved frustratingly unsuccesful. If anyone would like an image please contact me when convenient
78 Sqn temporarily decorated Merlin ZJ126/K as LV905 EY-W for our 95th Anniversary last year (1/11/11)
78 Sqn lost 979 aircrew KIA during WWII, 183 of these are still officially MIA. Sadly this is a fraction of the 55, 573
"Boys" who did not make it home . . .
78 Sqn is one of the thirteen ex Bomber Command Sqn's still operational today
Nemo Non Paratus ~ Nobody Unprepared (78 Sqn Motto)