Halifax HR732 3/4th December 1943

[Icare9]

Halifax HR723 of 51 Squadron RAF was lost during the Leipzig raid. No records are readily available as to what happened to it. 3 years after the end of the war, the wedding ring of the pilot P/O Arthur Jack Salvage was returned to his widow. She is still alive and after so many years recalls that it was returned to her from Germany or the USA.

Had the Halifax crashed in occupied territory, it is likely that the local populace would have some record of it. As his ring was the only personal effect returned, there is a mystery as to how it could have made its way to her "unaided" It had the pilots initials and their wedding date inscribed on it. It at least indicates that it crashed on land and not in the North Sea.

Another 51 Sqn Halifax HR782 was shot down by flak near Weiler, Boppard, near the Rhine. Surviving members of that crew reported seeing a bomber hit TWICE by flak and explode. As the two aircraft were only minutes apart at takeoff they were probably still somewhere "close" together and it is possible that the bomber they saw explode could be HR732.

If a nightfighter shot them down, there is usually a claim report which would provide time and location, to verify which aircraft had been shot down.

The fact that no crew were identified implies a catastrophic event as none appear to have been able to bale out, when even if killed, there is likely to be identification. Nor was any wreckage identified as far as we know. So, somewhere over Germany, the aircraft and crew vanished.