The Halifax Bombers in World War Two JD151 Halifax Mk 2 code EY-M and DT524

This is the story of the ill fated Handley Page Halifax of the Royal Air Force No 78 Squadron. Tail Number JD151 Halifax Mk 2 code EY-M based at RAF Breighton in the East Riding of Yorkshire.


On 25 October 1939, the Halifax performed its maiden flight, and it entered service with the RAF on 13 November 1940. It quickly became a major component of Bomber Command, performing routine strategic bombing missions against the Axis Powers, many of them at night.

The Halifax was also flown in large numbers by other Allied and Commonwealth nations, such as the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Free French Air Force and Polish forces.

Arthur Harris, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Bomber Command, described the Halifax as inferior to the rival Lancaster (in part due to its smaller payload) though this opinion was not shared by many of the crews that flew it, particularly for the MkIII variant.[2] Nevertheless, production of the Halifax continued until April 1945. During their service with Bomber Command, Halifaxes flew a total of 82,773 operations and dropped 224,207 tons of bombs, while 1,833 aircraft were lost.

So the story of JD151;

On the night of 10th / 11th August 1943 the crew of this 78 Squadron aircraft were undertaking an operational flight to bomb Nürnberg, the English conventional name for the german city is Nuremberg.

This raid was later generally regarded as a failure. On their return to Yorkshire this aircraft was running out of fuel as they neared the base of Breighton, two of the engines then failed as he made the approach to land. At 06.19hrs the aircraft crashed near Wressle just off the runway. Sadly three of the seven crew died as a result of this accident. In more recent years a small memorial was erected in woodland near the crash site.

So the story continues with,

The final hours of DT524.

On the 7th September 1943 those on board this 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft took off from RAF Riccall 10.05hrs to undertake a fighter affiliation training flight, on board was a regular crew of seven trainees, working up to becoming an operational bomber crew. With them were three Heavy Conversion Unit Instructors.

This training exercise involved a Hurricane, to play the part of an enemy fighter aircraft, making simulated attacking passes towards the Halifax, with the crew of the Halifax keeping lookout for it, and the instructor pilot of the Halifax would then demonstrate taking evasive action.

The Hurricane pilot made several attacks and later stated that the evasive action taken was very effective during all but the final one.

When the final attacking pass was made the Halifax initially went into a 90 degree bank and the starboard outer engine emitted a considerable amount of smoke, the aircraft then rolled over onto its back and lost height,

The aircraft crashed at midday at the edge of the plantation shown in my aerial and ground footage in this video.

This is the site all ten airmen flying in the Halifax DT524 were sadly killed.

Unfortunately air training accidents like this were common.

The unit prepared thousands of aircrew for service on Halifax squadrons. They paid a high price with loss of 72 aircraft and crews in flight training, in similar fates to that of DT524.

Chapters:
0:00 Memorial
0:40 JD151
3:18 Running out of Fuel
4:35 DT524
5:15 1658 HCU
8:25 Resting place of DT524

Credit Music by; https://thewilburproject.co.uk/

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