The Crew of HALIFAX No. W7677 / 102 SQUADRON
On September 8-9, 1942.
 
 
Service No. Rank Name Born Crew designation
1375165  Sgt. F.H.J. Farrell 10.10.1914 Pilot                 V
655774  Sgt. J.G. Phillips 02.03.1917 Navigator             V
646741  Sgt. F. Whitfield 29.01.1920 Flight Engineer       V
1202956  Sgt. O.K. Barclay 14.10.1916 Wireless Operator/Front Gunner                V
656985  Sgt. K.R. Wright 14.02.1912 Bomb Aimer 
AUS/405052  Sgt. Sgt. F.T. Heap 30.01.1911 Mid-Upper Gunner 
1379633  Sgt. J.L. Griffiths 07.09.1921 Rear Gunner 
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The Mission.

On the night of the 8 to 9 September 1942, the Halifax MK II, No. W7677, 102 squadron, took off the Royal Air Forces Base Pocklington, Yorkshire, at approximately 2100 hours, being one of 249 aircraft detailed to attack that night Frankfurt.

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The Target.

Halifax No. W7677 was one of 189 or 190 aircraft to reach the target. Over Frankfurt, 8/10 cloud and industrial haze prevented accurate bomb aiming, but the attack concentrated in the West of the city, with numerous fires being seen.

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The Losses.

Four aircraft (2 Halifaxes & 2 Wellingtons) were listed as missing on this operation and a total of 7 were lost after taking into consideration crashes on return to England.

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The Hit On Halifax W7677.

When the bombers arrived over the target, the German flak was already very active. At midnight, Halifax W7677 was hit on the port wing. Shortly after the hit, it developed problems with its port outer engine. The bomb drop was done, over the target, during these last minutes.

While on the homeward flight on September 9, a fire arose on the port outer engine. The shell shrapnel's must have damage the extinguisher system as well, inasmuch as the fire could not be put out. The extinguisher was unserviceable!

At this moment the aircraft was still over Germany, somewhere between Frankfurt and the North of Luxembourg.

Mr. Ron Farrell:

Over the years, I collected a great deal of memorabilia and documents about the crash. I can still remember that time. It was very traumatic for us. My brother was 28 at the time and had only be married for 12 months. I have been able to find out that they were returning from a raid over Frankfurt. They had already been hit by flak. But on their way to the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, they were hit by some special, unconventional flak. When this exploded, little parachute came out attached to each other by wire and if the aircraft touches them, these became tangled up with the engines and controls.

This is what happened to my brother's aircraft. He found the controls locked. So he called one of the crew up to help him and told the rest to bail out.

This was my brother's 13th operational trip over Germany.
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