This aircraft took off from Leeming at 00.09hrs on the 14th July 1943 for Ops to Aachen, the raid would comprised of 374 aircraft,
214 of these aircraft being Halifax's. Prior to this crew being able to drop their bomb load they were attacked by an enemy fighter, this combat
was serious enough to damage the aircrafts hydraulics which made it impossible for the bombs to be dropped. The pilot is believed to have
shaken the attacking aircraft off. Whether the crew continued with the bomber stream over the target is not yet known but on their return to
England they were again attacked and again the pilots actions shook these aircraft off. On reaching the UK by now
landing the aircraft was not going to be an option. When they crossed the Yorkshire coast and were making for base the pilot ordered
his crew to bail out of the aircraft, all did so without injury to themselves. The pilot is then though to have directed the aircraft back in the direction of the coast and away from
any areas of population before making good his escape. The aircraft crashed a short time later into Arden Woods, not far from Arden Hall near Hawnby where upon part of the bomb
load exploded at 05.50hrs. The pilot had a bad landing, he came down on farmland a short distance away and broke his leg. Through invaluable
correspondance with his son in 2006 I learn that a local "farming family who
heard the crash and went out with to look for survivors. They had a gun which they kept pointed at him until they were
sure he was who he claimed to be. Apparently, the local population were instructed to be suspicious of crashed airmen
as they could be German agents in disguise. As he couldn’t walk, they dragged him back to their house – rather painfully!"
There is no memory of where this was. No AM1180 Crash Card is available for this incident as the loss was due to a "Flying Battle".
The raid was a success, it severely damaged the town. Following the crash 6209 Bomb Disposal Flight took care of some other
bombs which did not explode on the aircrafts impact; those being 37 x 4lb IB's, 3 x 4lb Type X and
1 x 30lb IB. For his actions in returning the aircraft and his crew to the UK the pilot received an immediate DFC, gazetted on
26th July 1943 (or 10th August). The citation reads..
""One night in July 1943, this officer piloted an aircraft to attack Aachen. Whilst over
the target area, the bomber was seriously damaged when engaged by an enemy fighter. Despite
this, Flying Officer Bain made several determined runs over the objective. On the return
flight two more enemy fighters were encountered but Flying Officer Bain out-manoeuvred them.
By superb airmanship and great tenacity he succeeded in flying the crippled bomber to this
country. He displayed commendable courage and a fine fighting spirit in circumstances of great
difficulty.""
Pilot - F/O Donald T Bain RCAF (J/9412), aged 25. Of Vananda, Texada Island, Vancouver Island, Canada. Sustained a broken leg on landing.
F Eng - Sgt J J Connolly RAF - ok.
Nav - Sgt E H Wood RAF - ok.
BA - P/O Philip J A Magson RCAF (J/20912) - Ok. Of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
W Op / AG - Sgt George W Acorn RCAF (R/112252) - Ok, of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Rear Gunner - Sgt Willard M Haugen RCAF (R/114914) - Ok.
Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt John I (known as Irvin) Labow RCAF (J/18279) - Ok, of Beachburg, Ontario, Canada.
""Wing Commander Don Bain was a young Flying Officer piloting a Halifax bomber heading for Aachen in the summer
of 1943 when he was badly shot up by night-fighters five minutes before reaching the target.
He pressed on, only to find that his hydraulics and bomb doors would not operate. On his return
to England, he outmaneuvered two other enemy fighters. Unable to crash land because of his bomb
load, he ordered his crew to bail out. He then directed the plan to a safe area where
it crashed into a hill and exploded and bailed out himself, breaking both ankles badly
on landing. Subsequently, he was awarded the DFC.""
There is on a Canadian website information stating that
he had applied for "operational wings on 31st October 1944 but this was turned down on 10th November 1944 because,
with nine sorties it was not deemed enough". Following the incident detailed above Bain saw the rest of the War out and returned to Canada.
In January 1957 Donald Bain was made a Wing Commander in the RCAF.
He passed away in 1993 after a brief illness. No photograph is known to exist of him in his Wartime days.
F/Sgt Willard Haugen was sadly killed serving with 405 Sqdn only weeks after his incident on the North Yorkshire Moors. On 18th August 1943
his Halifax HR817 was shot down by flak over Flensburg on Ops to Peenemunde, he and his fellow crew members are buried in Kiel. There is no mention of his age in CWGC
registers.
Sgt Acorn, (thanks to Mr J Rudland for this photo). Not alot is known about he. He was sadly killed on 4th December 1943 whilst
serving with 405 Sqdn flying in Lancaster JB222. He is buried in Berlin. He was still only 20 years old.
Sgt Labow, photograph taken in late 1943. Sadly he would be killed on 31st of March 1944 whilst over Germany in Lancaster LL633 still serving with
408 Sqdn, he is buried at Durnbach War Cemetery. He was 25 years old and had 25 sorties to his name when he died.
I visited what we thought was this crsh site in 1996 with friends Ben Thompson and Phil Smith. At the time I knew nothing regarding the
circumstances leading to this aircraft ending up in these woods. The area of forest where we looked at this time was replanted with fir trees
and little wreckage was found. We did however find a sizeable
peice of fuselage against a tree, still with green paint on it.
After many return trips to try and locate the peice found years previously, I finally located the site for proper in May 2004, substantial
peices of the aircraft are scattered in the woodland. I then revisited afew days later with John Skinn and photographed
the area. It has only become apparent in the last year that the woodland is infact private - my previous entry point did not pass such signs and
I hear by apologise to the Lord Mexborough.
6th July 1943 - Bain and crew air-tested JD174, in a flight lasting 25 minutes.
7th July 1943 - Bain and crew used the aircraft for a bomber exercise on Strensall Range followed by fighter affiliation. The flight lasted 1 hour 25 minutes and they carried four ATC members.
9th July 1943 - Bain and crew used the aircraft for Ops to Gelsenkirchen. The flight lasted 6 hours 50 minutes and this flight is in some
way more remarkable than that detailed at the top of this webpage. The aircraft was damaged by intense heavy flak, it was holed a
massive 242 times, the aircrafts oxygen system was knocked out, as was one engine. They saw off three Fw190 fighters, bombed the
target and returned to the UK. Five days later, holes patched up they were up in JD174 again in the Aachen raid.
Donald Bain was born in Vananda, British Columbia in June 1918 and lived in Agaissiz, British Columbia prior to enlisting in
Vancouver on 16th April 1941. He trained at 2 ITS (graduated 7th August 1941), 19 EFTS (graduated 22nd September 1941) and 10 SFTS
(graduated 19th December 1941). He became commissioned in December 1941. On arrival in the UK, in March 1942 he was stationed with 22
O.T.U. at Wellesbourne Mountford, flying Wellingtons and here he met up with what would become the main part of his Halifax crew
- Magson, Acorn, Haugen and Wood. On 1st May 1943 he moved to 1659 H.C.U. based at Topcliffe. He and his crew became operational
on joining 408 Sqdn at Leeming on 18th May 1943. Following Bains injury it appears that some of the crew were posted away from 408 Sqdn.
Another source gives the following account about the events during 1943..
F/O Philip Magson was sadly killed on 24th August 1943 when Halifax HR918 crashed on Ops to Berlin. No further details on the incident
are yet known. He is buried in Berlin War Cemetery and was 23 years old.
The aircraft was built to contract ACFT/1808/C4 by E.E.C. Ltd at Salmesbury and delivered directly to 408 Sqdn at Leeming on 25th May 1943.
It was destroyed in the incident detailed above, Cat E2/FB Burnt damage being sustained. It was struck off charge on 23rd July 1943.
It is thought that the above crew used it as their own for much of the two months
it was with the Unit. Again through correspondance with the pilots son in the days leading up to the events detailed above they flew
the aircraft three times.
This webpage is planned for a re-vamp shortly with various elements of the known details being placed on sub-pages, similar to that of LL178's information
which crashed in the same area.