Handley Page Halifax DG408 OO-‘M’
1663 Heavy Conversion Unit
Royal Air Force Bomber Command
Crew
Sergeant Dennis Charles BUTLIN (547514), RAF, Navigator. Killed
Sergeant Allan John DUNN (1312809), age 27, RAFVR, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner. Killed
Sergeant Henry HINETT (1520789), RAFVR, age 22, Air Gunner. Killed
Sergeant John HUNTER (652116), RAF, age 22, Air Gunner. Killed
Sergeant Wilfred John PELHAM (1397020), RAFVR, age 21, Navigator. Killed
Sergeant Dennis William SUFFLING (1388152), RAFVR, Air Bomber. Killed
Sergeant Clive Richard Leonard THORNTON (577022), RAF, age 18, Flight Engineer. Killed
Sergeant Eric Ford WILLIAMSON (815223), RAF, age 22, Pilot. Killed
Circumstances (With the help of documents kept in the National Archives – UK)
On 1st May 1943, Halifax V DG408 OO-‘M’ took-off from RAF Rufforth for a cross-country exercise which went terribly wrong and ended in tragedy probably off the coast of Brittany or Normandy, France.
The aircraft was last plotted 130 miles off Brest and presumed shot down by enemy fighters (*).
(*) But no claim was made by the Flak (German anti-aircraft guns) or the Luftwaffe (German Air Force).
Sergeant BUTLIN lies in St. Helier War Cemetery (Grave 1), Jersey, Sergeant THORNTON lies in Barneville-sur-Mer (now Barneville-Carteret) Communal Cemetery, Manche, Normandy, Sergeant HUNTER lies in Siouville-Hague Churchyard, Manche, Normandy, and the remaining five members of the crew lie in Bayeux War Cemetery, Calvados, Normandy (**).
(**) Bayeux War Cemetery, Calvados, Normandy (Grave):
Sergeant DUNN (VIII. C. 10.), Sergeant HINETT (VIII. C. 4.), Sergeant PELHAM (VIII. C. 5.), Sergeant SUFFLING (VIII. C. 3.) & Sergeant WILLIAMSON (XVIII. F. 13.).
Note
According to other tragedies (H.M.S. Charybdis and H.M.S. Limbourne) and the places where the bodies were retrieved, DG408 could have run out of fuel and crashed at sea between les Sept-îles, department of Côtes-d’Armor, Brittany and the department of Manche, Normandy. When they tried to return home?
© The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
© The National Archives
© RAF WWII 38 Group Squadrons Reunited