ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 121682
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| Date: | Saturday 8 January 1944 |
| Time: | 01:15 |
| Type: |  Handley Page Halifax Mk V |
| Owner/operator: | 138 (Special Duties) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | LK743 |
| MSN: | NF-J |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Tetworth Hill, near RAF Tempsford, Bedfordshire, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Tempsford, Bedfordshire |
| RAF Tempsford, Bedfordshire |
In the evening of 7 January 1944 the Halifax V LK743 NF-J of 138 Sqn RAF took off at 2032 hrs from Tempsford for an SOE operation to Belgium (codes Tybalt 3 and Thresites 4). It returned nearly five hours later but crashed at 0115 hrs at Tetworth Hill near Bedford, killing everybody aboard.
Crew and passengers (all killed):-
Pilot : Pilot Officer Harry Murray Kennedy RAFVR 169432 [Killed] (NCO:1105812 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 01 February, 1944)
Flight Engineer : Sergeant Thomas Samuel Howlett RAFVR 1614728 [Killed]
Navigator : Sergeant Victor Albert Edward Theedom RAFVR 1464853 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer : Sergeant Stanley Whiteley RAFVR 1474740 [Killed]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Sergeant Edwin Thripp RAFVR 1313226 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner : Flight Sergeant David Fisher Davies DFM RAFVR 1313600 [Killed]
Rear Gunner : Sergeant Peter Sidney Barlow RAFVR 1318860 [Killed]
Passenger : Sergeant Hector Goffin (Agent) [Killed]
Passenger : Sergeant Rene Philemon Michaux (Agent) [Killed]
Passenger : Captain (Army) Henri Verhaegen (Agent) [Killed]
Davies’ DFM had been Gazetted on 14 September 1943. The citation reads as follows:
"Sergeant Davies is an Air Gunner employed in a special aircrew capacity requiring great skill, initiative and co-operation with the rest of his crew. He has now carried out 30 operational sorties and, to a great extent, the success of each of these has depended on his actions. Sergeant Davies has at all times shown a high degree of courage and keenness to operate and his sense of duty has set a fine example to the remainder of the squadron. I strongly recommend him for the non-immediate award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.
20th. July 1943"
Note 1: Wilfred Waddington, an English SOE agent, is also mentioned as being aboard this aircraft, but he was actually parachuted into Belgium during this same night in company with a Belgian agent, Philippe de Liedekerke. Verhaegen’s mother died in a German concentration camp.
Note 2: one of the link below describes the crash of this Halifax into Tetworth Hall, killing one civilian. Actually this happened on 28 May 1944 and involved a Mosquito.
Sources:
http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Bedfordshire/TempsfordAircrewLost1944.html
"Royal Air Force Bomber Command losses, vol 5. Aircraft and Crews Losses 1944", by W R Chorley, ISBN 0-904597-91-1
http://bernardoconnor.org.uk/Publications/Stneots/ACCIDENTSATTEMPSFORD.htm
http://www.academia.edu/2314643/THE_MOST_SECRET_LIST_OF_SOE_AGENTS_M
http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/03463.php
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?13268-Flight-Sergeant-David-Fisher-Davies-DFM-no-1313600
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetworth
https://www.streetcheck.co.uk/postcode/sg192hz
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 24 June 1943 | BB379 | 138 (Special Duties) Sqn RAF | 4 | Oostzaan, Noord-Holland |  |
w/o |
| 3 June 1944 | LL307 | 138 (Special Duties) Sqn RAF | 9 | near the Groeneweg road, Stavenisse, Zeeland | |
w/o |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 11-Apr-2011 14:10 | ThW | Added |
| 16-Feb-2012 04:08 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Departure airport] |
| 07-Dec-2012 04:58 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 07-Sep-2014 09:41 | angels one five | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Phase, Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 03-Jun-2015 14:35 | Taylor | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport] |
| 09-Jan-2017 06:40 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Oct-2018 17:35 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 07-Jan-2024 07:51 | Rob Davis | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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