On Thursday, 15 March 1945, (a part of) the aircraft of the 431 squadron (RCAF), took off for a mission to Hagen in Gemany from a station (airfield) in or near Croft.
One of the crew members was Flight Lieutenant A G Edwards RCAF. He departed for his mission at 16:21.
He flew with a Avro Lancaster (type X, with serial KB815 and code SE-K). His mission and of the other crew members was planned for Friday, 16 March 1945.
Alan Harris:
My Granddad was Alfred Charles Harris who was an RAF Pilot Officer in the role of Flight engineer on the Lancaster mk BX and serving as a volunteer to the Royal Canadian Air Force Squadron 431 (Iroquois) based at RAF Croft (Nr Darlington). He was shot down on 15/3/1945 and died, he was 35 years old when he died his service number was 187961.
He has a grave in Perwez cemetery in Belgium along with the other members of the crew, as this is where he came down. They were due to fly their last mission but their navigator was taken ill and it took a while to get a replacement. When they finally got a replacement navigator for this mission it was a few weeks later. On March 15, 1945 they departed at 16:21 from Croft airfield in Lancaster KB815 SE-K with a bombing mission over the city of Hagen in Germany.
On the way back they went down but the cause is unknown, we believe that they were shot down as the aircraft came down in a mass of flames according to witnesses. The plane hit very hard and created a crater that was around 20 feet deep and very wide, no bodies were recovered. Photo 3 is a picture of my Granddad’s actual uniform in the museum in Belgium, my Dad donated it to them and the picture in the dummies hand is my Granddad. Photo 1 and 2 are a couple of pictures of the memorial plaque given to each member of the family at a service held in their honour 6th May 2012, I have one on display in my lounge.
Pictures of the graves : https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/18775/Commonwealth-War-Graves-Perwez.htm
Information about aircraft who did not return from this mission can be found here. Information about the other crew members on this flight can be found at this website (Aircrew Remembered). This website also provides the flight information for this record.
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