Personnel Index - Detail

Name
HALSALL
First Names
William
Rank
Sgt
Service
RAF
Service Number
991197
Crew Position
Air Gunner
Age
32
Date of Death
14/02/1943
Cemetery

 

Photographed by Malcolm Brooke
From the panel at Runnymede
 

The Runnymede image was created by artist Paul Reid using photographs taken by Jo Cockburn and Malcolm Brooke

13/14 February, 1943: LORIENT:

On a clear moonlit night 466 heavies set out once again to pound Lorient's U-boat base on the Biscay coast of France.
The squadron supplied 10 aircraft for the raid. In all, Bomber Command lost 7 aircraft including 2 Lancasters - one came from 103 Squadron at Elsham Wolds, the other was from 49 Squadron. F/Sgt Gifford Miller and crew had reached the south coast near Plymouth on return from Lorient, when tragedy struck. In the darkness over the Sound, their aircraft sliced into the unseen steel cable of a barrage balloon. The Lancaster came down on the western end of the breakwater, disintegrating as it fell into the sea. The crews final moments have never
been established for sadly they all perished in the crash and their bodies were never recovered.

ED450 (EA-G)
F/Sgt G.B.C. Miller Pilot (Missing)
F/O R. Allin NAV (Missing)
Sgt K. Hands W/AG (Missing)
Sgt W. Noble B/A (Missing)
Sgt S. Young F/E (Missing)
Sgt W. Halsall A/G (Missing)
Sgt F.H. Allen A/G (Missing)

Note: The remains of ED450 are still there today, though the wreckage is now well broken up and scattered by the tides. The site is frequently visited by the local diving club... a sad memorial to a brave crew. The Captain of the Royal Naval Diving School at Bovisand, took Dr John Allin, the son of the navigator, to the scene; then, after dinner, presented him with a fire extinguisher, polished to perfection, from the wreck. Needless to say, John was lost for words.

Click this link to view (in a new window) a YouTube video of the crash remains.