Date:	Sunday 26 April 1942
Time:	00:06
Type:	Short Stirling Mk I
Owner/operator:	218 (Gold Coast) Sqn RAF
Registration:	W7506
MSN:	HA-K
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hüffelsheim, Rheinland-Pfalz -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Marham
Destination airport:

Narrative:
A/C one of 6 aircraft from 218 Squadron participating that night in Operation Canonbury - the first of 2 raids on the Skoda factory in Pilsen Czechoslovakia. Operation supported by Czech partisans who went on to to deliver Operation Anthropoid - the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.

The aircraft was shot down by the night fighter crew of Oberfeldwebel Haisch & Unteroffizier Fritz of the 4./NJG 3, who were flying Bf 110 C-4 D5+HM from Mainz-Finthen airfield.

The bomber left a crater measuring 20 by 30 metres and around 10 metres deep. The Messerschmitt in return was hit by return fire, leading to an engine failure.

All eight men rest in the Rheinberg War Cemetery:

Pilot: J/15307 Plt Off Harold Reuben Millichamp - Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 18. D. 11-15.
2nd Pilot:1006950 Sgt Thomas Cunningham Bird - Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 18. D. 11-15.
Flight Engineer: 570264 Sgt Philip Harold Bullock - Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 18. D. 11-15.
Observer/Navigator: 107988 Plt Off John Albert Stokes Banting - Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 18. D. 11-15 (NCO:923756 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 06 October, 1942)
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner:1181384 Sgt David Holley Bird - Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 18. D. 11-15.
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner:1062947 Sgt Thomas MacFarlane - Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 18. D. 11-15.
Air Gunner:1281123 Sgt Percy George Detmold - Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 18. D. 11-15.
Air Gunner: 1378331 Sgt Stuart Alan Bain Kellie - Rheinberg War Cemetery Coll. grave 18. D. 11-15.

Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part two
Google Maps
CWGC
Bomber Command Losses 1942.
218 Sqn war records from The National Archives UK
Loss report from the personnel file of the RCAF pilot from Ancestry.ca (Archives Canada)
https://aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=w7506&qand=&exc1=&exc2=&search_only=&search_type=exact
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database http://robdavistelford.co.uk/webspace/raf_bc

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Dec-2017 15:34	Red Dragon	Added
15-Jan-2018 18:27	XindelX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Destination airport, Narrative, ]
01-Jan-2019 17:34	Phil Bullock	Updated [Narrative, ]
26-Nov-2019 20:35	Adam Hauner	Updated [Narrative, ]
22-May-2021 09:38	TigerTimon	Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative, ]
18-Oct-2023 15:58	tachel	Updated
19-Oct-2023 12:42	tachel	Updated
20-Aug-2025 12:33	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]