Wellington at East Moor.

This photograph is often mis-quoted as being Wellington HE635 which is almost certainly an error. Q-Queenie was damaged in landing away from East Moor on the Mannheim raid on 16-17th April 1943. I include the photograph here to clarify it.

On the 28th April 1943 the crew of this aircraft took off from East Moor at 21.01hrs with two 1500lb mines. They failed to find the Eglantine area to lay their mines so returned with them on board. At 01.49hrs the aircraft overshot the landing and ran onto the road next to the airfield. The mines were later removed. The crew were uninjured.

The aircraft was built to contract B124362/40 by Vickers Armstrong's at Chester and delivered directly to 439 Sqdn at East Moor during the first week of March 1943. It sustained Cat. B/FB damage in the incident detailed above on 29th April 1943 and was repaired in works. It was then issued to 83 OTU on 1st August 1943 when the unit formed at Childs Ercall. The airfield name was changed to Peplow on 20th August 1943. The unit disbanded on 28th January 1944 and the aircraft was flown into MU storage where it remained until struck off charge and sold for scrap on 30th December 1948.

Pilot - P/O John A E Lancaster RAF. Joined 429 Sqdn on 7 Nov 1942, posted out to 1679 HCU on 27 Oct 1943, one assumes to train on Halifax's. Reached rank of P/O wef 2 March 1943.

Nav - P/O Ronald W Hale RCAF. Posted out on 4 Nov 1943 to 29 OTU.

BA - Sgt Lyn J Boyes RCAF. Posted out on 4 Nov 1943 to 24 OTU.

W Op / AG - F/Sgt Alexander L Thom RAF. Posted out 3 Dec 1943 to 21 OTU.

Rear Gunner - P/O Manuel (Manny) Rabinovitch RCAF, of Medicine Hat, Alta, Canada.

Sgt Lancaster and crew, they were one of the first three crews to arrive at East Moor when 429 Sqdn were posted there on or before 10th November 1942. Lancaster and the other two of these first three crews became known as "the Muskateers". Another website does detail 429's Wellington days.... ""Sgt. Manuel Rabinovitch, part of Sgt. Lancaster's crew, said that the day after they arrived there were still no aircraft for the crews to fly in. They kept busy getting flying gear issued, learning the lay of the land, participating in various sporting events and doing what training they could without aircraft. According to Sgt. Boyes logbook, Lancaster's Bomb Aimer, the crew didn't make their first training flight until 31 December, 1942"". ""76 and 78 Squadron, stationed at Linton-On-Ouse, were responsible for taking the Bison pilots on their 2nd Dickie trips. These trips took place from 18 Nov 42 to 9 Dec 42."" ""Reporting to the squadron in the early days was not an event that inspired confidence. When Sgt. John Lancaster and his crew arrived at the small train station in the wilds of North Yorkshire they called to the East Moor Station to have someone pick them up. The Orderly Officer at the other end of the phone told them there was only one truck on strength and it had been dispatched to the York train station to pick up other aircrews that had arrived. The Orderly Officer, who was also the Medical Officer, sent the ambulance out to pick them up. The men had to leave their baggage at the train station because there was no room in the ambulance for the men and their kit. They were dropped off at the Sergeant's Mess. The Orderly Sergeant promptly appeared and informed the gaggle that there was only one cook and two kitchen staff and they were located at the Airmen's mess. They enjoyed a meal of tea and sandwiches at the Airmen's mess then bedded down for the night at the Senior NCO's Barracks! At this point there were a total of 2 officers, the MO and Adjudant, one WO1, one QM Sergeant with a staff of 3 airmen along with the newly arriving aircrews."" ""A great deal of excitement occurred on 25th November 1942 when the roar of Hercules engines of the Squadron's first four Wellington Mark III's flew over the airfield and landed at 1430. S/L Cairns, Sgt Lancaster and two other crews (probably DeBussac and Bruce) had picked up the Wimpy's from Driffield, which was 15 minutes airtime from East Moor. These four Wellington's were handed over by 466 (Australian) Squadron."" ""The weather was very miserable and permanently foggy allowing Lancaster and his crew to fly only twice in December."" This is included to give the casual reader of this website an idea of the sparseness of East Moor at this stage in the War.

On 17th April 1943 ""Sgt J A E Lancaster was commissioned as an officer. He was the first member of the aircrew to be commissioned in the Squadron. The effective date of his promotion to pilot officer was 2nd March 43. That night P/O Lancaster and his crew had a party in the Sergeants Mess to "wet down" his single thin braid. Manny was surprised to hear from all the NCO's that they were glad to see John get his promotion, which they all said was long overdue. P/O Lancaster had been doing most of the test flying, familiarization flying for the new pilots and acting as the Senior Pilot in A Flight ever since he arrived at the Squadron. At this point the new P/O John Lancaster and crew had completed twelve ops. The following day Ron Hale, Lyn Boyes and Manny were called into the Orderly Room and given applications for their officer commissions to fill out and return to the Adjutant. They were told it was RCAF policy to commission all crews who had finished twelve ops and had no derogatory items on their record. After this task was completed they helped P/O Lancaster move into his new digs at the Officers Quarters at Sutton Hall.""

Their last trip with 429 Sqdn was on the 3rd of July 1943, their movements there-after is not yet known but it is thought they were screened after completing their Tour on Halifax's.

F/O Rabinovitch became a PoW on Ops to Frankfurt on 26th November 1943 flying in LK995.

Alexander Thom later served with 405 (Pathfinder) Sqdn at Gransden Lodge in early 1945.