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REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 23.57 on 12th May 1943 from Snaith, joining 238 Lancasters, 141 other Halifaxes, 112 Wellingtons, 70 Stirlings and 10 Mosquitos. 572 aircraft in all. 34 aircraft were lost - 10 Lancasters, 10 Wellingtons, 9 Halifaxes and 5 Stirlings - 5.9% of the total force.
For details of the raid please see "HERE".

JB806’s bomb-load consisted of two 1,000lb general-purpose high explosive bombs, 48 x 30lb incendiaries and 630 x 4lb incendiaries. The course was set from Snaith to Stirling, then across the North Sea to Egmond on the Dutch coast at a height of approximately 20,000ft, and from there to Duisburg. The crew were tasked to be part of the second wave to bomb the oil refinery, before returning via Noordwijk, crossing the English coast at Scarborough.
Having made land-fall, JB806 experienced heavy flak, then about 10 minutes from target the aircraft was holed by anti-aircraft fire near the Wireless Operator’s position and in the cockpit roof. The shell exited the fuselage without exploding. In addition, a port wing tank was damaged and was leaking fuel into the wing. Nearing the target, the front turret was blown off and Sgt. Henderson, the navigator, was hit by a flak fragment that narrowly missed his lung. He was carried to the rear of the cockpit and given morphine.
As they were so close to target, the crew decided to carry on, Sgt. Rae taking on the role of Navigator alongside his bomb-aiming duties. The target was bombed successfully and they headed for home.
Over Holland they were attacked simultaneously by a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and a Junkers Ju88. The port wing and the centre section of the fuselage caught fire, and the aircraft was sent into a dive when the port outer engine fell from its mounting. Sgt. Brown gave the order to bale out.

At 02.18hrs on 13th May 1943 the abandoned Halifax crashed at Weelde Station, Antwerp, 8km N of Turnhout, Belgium, practically on the border with Holland. The aircraft fell on a bakery, killing the owner’s wife and daughter.

  
The Bakery in 1943 after the Halifax crash and taken again in 1992.

For details of the raid please see "HERE".
Sgts. Goodchild and Knight landed close to each other in countryside and were captured on entering a hut that turned out to be full of Germans. They were taken to a central command post where they were re-united with Sgt. de Bourbon, who had been badly injured when his parachute had become entangled in the aircraft’s tail. Here they also learnt that Sgt. Henderson was in a Luftwaffe hospital, and that Sgts. Brown and Rae were unharmed, though captured. They were transferred to Oberursel via Brussels, Cologne and Frankfurt, and then on to Stalag Luft Heydekrug near Konigsberg, arriving in June 1943.

In August 1943, due to the advance of the Russians, the prisoners were moved. Sgt. Goodchild was taken via Memel and Stettin to Stalag Luft IV at Gros Tychow, enduring harsh conditions and treatment en route. The Russian advance caused another move in February 1945, when Sgt. Goodchild was one of 650 prisoners forced on the “Death March”, during which the R.A.F. attacked the column killing 26, possibly mistaking it for a movement of troops. Conditions were bleak and prisoners suffered from the cold, malnutrition and dysentery, as well as from the sheer physical effort of the 487-mile march.

Sgt. Kenneth Albert Goodchild (Courtesy 51 Squadron History Society)

On about the 25th April 1945 the column was met by the 6th Airborne Division and the German guards surrendered. Sgt. Goodchild was flown from Celle to Brussels and thence back to England. He weighed just six stones and lost his sight for ten days due to malnutrition.

Sgt. Goodchild was promoted to Warrant Officer and awarded the 1939-45 Star, the Aircrew Europe Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal, the General Service Medal and the Croix de Combat. After the war he served in the Air Training Corps until 1966, the last five years as CO.

Sgt. Arthur Lloyd George Knight taken in 1975. (Courtesy 51 Squadron History Society)


The bakery ovens after the crash. (Courtesy 51 Squadron History Society)


Same scene in 1992 (Courtesy 51 Squadron History Society)

In 1992 Ken Goodchild visited Weelde, where his Halifax had crashed 49 years previously, and met the baker’s son, who still ran the same establishment.
Researched by our volunteer Jeremy Nicholson for the Aircrew Remembrance Society with assistance from 51 Squadron History Society.
Acknowledgments: With thanks to the following: Bill Chorley - "Bomber Command Losses", Theo Boiten - "German Nightfighter War Diaries", Martin Middlebrook "Bomber Command War Diaries". The superb work of the C.W.G.C

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