Trafford

Born during the June quarter 1914 in the Bury R.D. - ref: 8c/1055, the son
of Edward Turner & Emily Jane Platt (nee Horrocks).

Flying with 78 Sqn Bomber Command based at RAF Breighton, situated 13 miles
south-east of York.

Took off at 20.12 hrs on the 23rd August 1943 in a Halifax Mk II - No.
BB373 EY-K, for a bombing operation on Berlin.  On their return to
Breighton, the crew, because of bad visability, were ordered to divert to
RAF Leconfield, situated almost three miles north of Beverley, Yorkshire.  
Leconfield were unable to take them either and they were diverted again. 
While circling Leconfield,  they collided with another Halifax Mk II No.
JB874 EY-E that had also been so diverted.   Both airccraft fell at
04.30hrs at HullBridge, 2 miles north-east of Beverley.   For some reason
their a/c had a crew of 8 on board, the other bomber had the usual crew of
7 men on board - 14 out of the 15 men were killed.   The only survivor -
mid upper gunner John Greet,  took five years to recover.   When his wife
gave birth to a daughter, they named her "Beverley".

This was the first major raid on Berlin - not the city (though some bombs
did fall on it), but the factories of I.G. Farben Works.   Berlin
understandably became one of most feared bombing runs - it was a very long
flight and high casualty rates were the norm.   A total of 462 a/c took
part in this bombing mission and 63 a/c were lost.   A total of 298 aircrew
died one that raid and 117 became prisoners of war, an unknown number were
injured.

I have not yet seen the AIR27 records for 78 Sqn, so cannot quote their
bomb load.

How tragic that after successfully completing this long tedious and
dangerous mission, they died in a simple accident so close to safety.

A full and detailed reprt of this raid is given in Martin Middlebrook's
"The Berlin Raids".