• F/L D.Z.T Wood RCAF, Pilot
• F/O W.R. Ewing RCAF, Navigator
• F/O W. Sterling RCAF, Bomb Aimer
• F/Sgt O. Stamatis RCAF, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
• Sgt O. Parsons RCAF, Mid Upper Air Gunner
• Sgt D. Ward RCAF, Rear Air Gunner
• Sgt G. Grant RAFVR, Flight Engineer

The aircraft carries a load of seven 1,000lb and six 500lb bombs. The mission is uneventful, the target area was hit and the aircraft and its crew returns to Croft at 11:43hrs and following the normal debrief it is time for lunch and rest.
Fast forward to later that day to 22:20hrs. Handley Page Halifax BIII MZ920 WL-C takes off from RAF Croft, target Duisburg as part of a larger Allied bomber stream assembling over the South East Midlands. On board is the same crew that flew the morning mission in Halifax NP144. They are headed for Northamptonshire where they will join up with the other bombers and escorting fighter aircraft taking part in the raid. The bomb load for this mission is identical to that for the morning mission.

Flying at 20,000ft over the border of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire border the starboard outer engine catches fire and despite the pilot attempt to extinguish the fire it rages on. It is obvious that the pilot has to abort the mission and land somewhere for the crew to escape. The RAF and USAAF airfields in the area are launching their bombers and do not want a burning aircraft to block their runways. The aircraft is diverted to RAF Church Lawford south west of Rugby Warwickshire.

Now the lubricating oil is escaping and is being ignited by the fire as is the boosted mixture. The starboard inner engine is now burning also and the integrity of the wing is threatened. And the cockpit is filling up with smoke. The fire is taking hold along the length of the starboard wing. The Halifax is approaching the airfield at Church Lawford, but has to fly over Dunchurch first in order to reach safety. The situation is so bad that two of the crew members, F/O Sterling, the bomb aimer and F/Sgt Stamatis, the wireless operator decide to open the escape hatch and bail out.  Stamatis lands safely and is uninjured, Sterling, however, lands on electric light cabling and shorts out all the village lights, getting injured in the process.
Back in the aircraft, F/L Wood makes a final attempt to extinguish the fire by diving, but the starboard wing breaks of and the aerodynamic load on the port wing causes it to break off too. Despite desperate attempts to open the escape hatch, it appears jammed,  the five remaining crew members lose their lives as the remains of the aircraft fall to earth. It is 23.50 The map shows a red cross where the aircraft came down near Dunchurch Railway Station alongside the A45 road to Coventry, which was closed because of the unexploded bombs. Is was reopened at 15:45hrs on Friday 27th off October, almost two weeks after the crash.

The Canadian crew members were taken to Chester’s Blacon cemetery where they were laid to rest.  Sgt Grant’s remains were taken to his hometown in Wales where he was laid to rest.

Every year on Remembrance Sunday, the memorial is at the centre of a simple wreath laying ceremony by the chairman of the Rugby Aviation Group in the presence of both David George and Roger Higgerson, the latter tending to the memorial on a frequent basis throughout the year.

photo by Theo Claassen

In 2017, Roger Higgerson (left) with fellow memorial founder David George  when a plaque had been produced, which was later hung in St. Peters Church in Dunchurch as a further reminder of the five brave young men that lost their lives fighting for the UK and Europe to keeps its freedom and defeat Nazi Germany. The placing of the plaque in the church also meant that at the next Remembrance Day service at the Dunchurch War Memorial, the names of the five heroes were read and has been since to keep their memory alive .

Canadian Bomber Crews
The crew of Halifax MZ920 WL-C was made up of a total of seven men, 6 Canadian and 1 British. Halifax crews always had an RAF or RAFVR (Voluntary Reserve) crew member, whereas the Canadian Lancaster squadrons were all crewed by Canadians. This was also the case for Canadian Squadrons using other bombers such as the Wellington.
The reason for this was that Lancasters were built in Canada under license and the RCAF could train Lancaster flight engineers. Since all other bombers used, including the Halifax, were built in the UK, the RCAF could not train flight engineers hence a composite crew.

The history of MZ920

The aircraft was built as a Mk B III by English Electric in Preston in August of 1944 and delivered to 434 Squadron RCAF at RAF Croft in North Yorkshire, registered MZ920 and given the squadron code of WL for 434 Squadron and C as its identity within the squadron. The aircraft was popularly referred to as C for Comet.
It flew with 7 different crews for a total of 79.5 hours on 17 missions.