Personnel Index - Detail
27/28 October, 1940; HAMBURG:
Again the squadron was successful with 6 out of the 8 aircraft dispatched hitting the primary target of Hamburg; the remaining 2 bombed alternative targets.
Far more serious was the plight of F/O Bufton (X3027) and crew whose aircraft had been shot down by Lt Volker of 1/NJG2. The pilot managed courageously to force land his doomed Hampden in the sea, within a mile of the Skegness coast.
Despite the proximity of the ditching to the foreshore (it is said that the men's call for help could be heard from Skegness seafront) the rescue services were unable to reach the crew in time and tragically all perished; the body of P/O Ballas-Anderson was never recovered.
Note: In 1994, a propeller blade from this aircraft (recently recovered) was on display in the Skegness Lifeboat Station.
Hampden X3027 (EA-A)
F/O J.R. Bufton Pilot (Killed)
P/O K. Ballas-Anderson Pilot (Missing)
Sgt F.J.W. Bichard W/AG (Killed)
Sgt R.F. Robertson W/AG (Killed)
There is a memorial to this crew inside the lifeboat station in Skegness