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Monday 5th January 1942 - Brest
Avro Manchester L7432 EM:J
F/Sgt. Wescombe
Sgt. Thomas
F/Sgt. Sieve
Sgt. Westbury
Sgt. Howe
Sgt. Walker
Sgt. Harper (Obs)
The weather at Bottesford that day was fair and 11 aircraft were detailed for operations, but one failed to take off. The take-off time was 04.34 with the primary target being the docks. Eric's crew reported that 9/10 cloud cover hid the town, but a few gaps revealed the dock area. The full moon that night helped in locating the target. They dropped three 2000lb bombs in the dock area from 12,000ft where a large fire was seen in the centre of the town on arrival at target area. 154 aircraft took off consisting of 89 Wellingtons and 65 of other types. 87 of the crews were ordered to bomb the ships the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the remainder being given the naval docks generally as their target. A smoke-screen prevented accurate bombing but large fires were claimed without the loss of any aircraft. Of the 10 207 Squadron Manchesters 9 bombed the primary target with the tenth reporting that the target was obscured by cloud and did not drop any bombs. The crew arrived back at Bottesford at 08.41.

Saturday 10th January 1942 - Wilhelmshaven
Avro Manchester L7378 EM:A
F/Sgt. Wescombe
Sgt. Thomas
Sgt. Harper
F/Sgt. Sieve
Sgt. Westbury
Sgt. Walker
Sgt. Howe
EM:A set off at 16.53 with the aiming point being the main railway station, but with the intention of causing resultant damage in the port area. The town of Wilhelmshaven should have been an easy target to locate in good weather, lying as it does on the shores of the Jade Bay. Three 207 crews succeeded in bombing the railway station and two found the secondary target. Eric navigated his plane EM:A down the Jade Bay coastline to release their bombs from 16,000ft at 19.30. They pin-pointed the impact position at one mile north east of the railway station and the crew saw the 4,000lb 'Cookie' explode. The crew reported two fires were left burning with seven bundles of nickels being dropped in the target area. They were diverted on the return journey and landed at RAF Coningsby at 23.18. The bombing results from Wilhelmshaven, bore little resemblance to the optimistic claims of returning crews. Although a total of 124 aircraft were dispatched the German defenders recognised this as only a light attack with only six civilians injured.

Eric was killed along with the rest of the crew on Wednesday 14th January 1942 when his Avro Manchester bomber L7523 EM:M piloted by Flight Sergeant Basil Courtney Wescombe crashed and burnt at Mill Hill near Cliff House Farm, Holmpton, Nr Withernsea, E. Yorkshire (now Humberside).

The aircraft L7523 was an Avro Manchester MkIA fitted with 33'-0" span tail and twin fins, delivered to 207 Squadron on Friday 31st October 1941. It was part of a production batch of 200 aircraft order from A.V.Roe & Co. Ltd. Manchester, to Air Ministry Specification 19/37 under Contract No. B648770/37 dated 12-37, and covered Works Order No. 5723. The first 157 aircraft (L7276-L7325, L7373-L7402, L7415-L7434, L7453-L7497, L7515-L7526) were completed as Manchester Mk.I's and IAs (the latter from L7420), the remaining 43 as Lancasters. Deliveries commenced to the RAF on Wednesday 31st July 1940.

Wednesday 14th January 1942 - Hamburg
Avro Manchester L7523 EM:M
523056 Flight Sergeant (Pilot) Basil Courtney Wescombe. RAF. Age:25
1111152 Flight Sergeant (Pilot) Frederick Edward Thomas. RAF. Age:26
925454 Sergeant (Air Observer) Eric Ronald Harper. RAF(VR). Age: 19
902414 Flight Sergeant (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) Leonard Sieve. RAF(VR). Age: 23
961733 Sergeant (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) Claude Raymond Westbury. RAF(VR). Age: 21
1194389 Sergeant (Air Gunner) John Thomas (Jack) Howe. RAF(VR). Age: 20
641700 Sergeant (Air Gunner) Maurice Robert Walker. RAF. Age:19

Although 1942 had started quietly due to operational restrictions losses rose sharply during the raid on Wilhelmshaven on the 10th of January. Hamburg was chosen for two consecutive night raids in the middle of January. On Wednesday 14th January 1942 207 Squadron had been stood down for three days, and despite the first fall of snow, it was called upon to join an attack on Hamburg. L7523 EM:M was part of a force of 95 aircraft tasked to attack Hamburg. 48 aircraft claimed to have bombed the target and local reports state approximately 12 fires were started and the Altona railway station was hit with 6 people killed and 22 injured. 5 aircraft, 5.26 percent of the force were lost these being 1 Manchester, 2 Wellingtons and 2 Hampdens.

L7523 took off from RAF Bottesford, Leicestershire fifteen minutes late after suffering an unknown technical problem. At briefing the crews were informed of a new tactic to be employed for the first time. Instead of taking off at irregular intervals and making their own way to the target by whatever route the captain and navigator favoured, the aircraft were to take off in a close-spaced procession and fly exactly the same route and speed, joining up with other units to form what came to be known as the bomber stream. The condensed take-off sequence went smoothly until the last aircraft in line. Wooldridge 17.07, Birch 17.08, Dawkins 17.09, Hathersich 17.10, Coles 17.11, Leland 17.12, Green 17.18 and Wescombe 17.35. They were destined for a raid on the dockyards and nearby Blohm and Voss aircraft factory near Hamburg. As it was, the North Sea was covered by a thick layer of cloud, and many aircraft were unable to locate the target.

The aircraft took off at 17.35 and was airborne for 3 hours and 10 minutes, given the cruising speed of an Avro-Manchester was 185mph and that they returned with an engine on fire it is not possible for the crew to have reached Hamburg and unlikely that they came under enemy fire. At 20.45 the elder of three Misses Walker was sitting in the kitchen of Cliff House Farm in the hamlet of Holmpton on the Yorkshire coast. She heard a loud popping sound of a throttled back aero engine at low altitude and rushed outside to see the plane pass low to the south, with flames apparently coming from the rear. Seconds later the plane hit the ground and there was a flash and explosion. The source of the fire is unknown, but possibly an uncontrollable fire in the port Vulture engine would have given the same appearance to a ground observer. The Home Guard were soon on the scene arriving from a nearby Observation Post on the cliff-top. It took the Withernsea Police and the Auxiliary Fire Service over an hour to reach the crash site. They found a deep crater filled with wreckage, and propaganda leaflets (nickels) printed in German were being blown about in the stiff breeze. Amongst the debris were also three bodies. The Fireman returned to their depot at 01.55 and by 02.46 it was established that the wreck was that of a British bomber. The Home Guard carried the remains of the crew to Cliff House Farm where they remained overnight in one of the farm buildings. The next morning farm workers found a sorry sight. Soldiers were already guarding the impact point and the tail unit had been thrown over a nearby hedge. Small fragments of airframe were spread over a wide area, with apparently the bomb load already been jettisoned. A freezing rain was falling from a leadened sky and within a short period the farm workers' clothes were frozen stiff. Later that morning the bodies were conveyed by RAF ambulances to RAF Catfoss (2 Coastal Operational Training Unit) near Hornsea.

Another witness of the crash was a 14 year-old boy who was looking out of the window of his house in Holmpton. He saw the plane travelling North away from the River Humber parrallel to the coast. The plane had flames pouring from it and ultimately crashed on the crest of Mill Hill approximately half a mile from the Rocket House in Holmpton. He places the time of the crash much later at about 23.00 and was at the scene within minutes, but could not approach the aircraft because of the intense fire and bullets firing in all directions as the stored ammunition exploded.

The 'Loss Card' held at the archives in the RAF Museum at Hendon contains very little detail and the cause of the crash is listed as 'not known'. There is no mention of the crash in the AVIA division of documents in the National Archives despite the plane crashing in Yorkshire. The subsequent inquest held at the farm established that L7523 had jettisoned her warload out to sea, and concluded that the aircraft had probably been damaged by enemy action as there was a suggestion of battle damage on the aircraft, forcing an early return and culminating in the crash. An equally likely explanation given the engine fire and the poor record of the Vulture engines on Avro Manchesters was that failure of one of the Vultures, possibly due to severe icing, had forced F/Sgt Wescombe to turn back.

An hypothetical account of the mystery surrounding the crash is given by Vince Holyoak 1992, author of 'On the Wings of the Morning' a book about RAF Bottesford.
Could the crew, already behind schedule, have pressed onwards only to find at some point over the North Sea that there was a difficulty with the port engine, perhaps running rough or the temperature rising alarmingly? Now even further behind, and with a failing aircraft, possibly they had no alternative but to jettison their bombs and set a course for home. Perhaps the engine was feathered and switched off, but as they neared the coast, maybe their height had dropped so much that the engine had to be restarted. Could it be that this time it seized up, immediately bursting into flames?

The Avro Manchester was an unsuccessful aircraft and many improvements were made in developing it's successor, the Avro Lancaster. Manchester bombers flew on 1269 sorties of which 64 (5.04%) were lost and 12 (0.95%) are classified as operational crashes. The figure of 5.04% lost is the highest of any British bomber in World War Two. 207 Squadron carried out more raids, flew more sorties and suffered more losses than any other Manchester squadron. It suffered the fourth highest overall percentage losses in Bomber Command and the highest percentage losses in 5 Group.

Eric is buried with his mother in Grave 305, Block 9, Streatham Cemetery, Tooting where his family were living after moving from Lowestoft earlier in the war.

Much of the information found in books about the Avro Manchester, 207 Squadron and Operation Record Books from the National Archives.
'Always Prepared' John Hamlin
'On the Wings of the Morning' Vince Holyoak
'Avro Manchester: The Legend behind the Lancaster' Dr Robert Kirby

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