COI form needed for 6th November 1943, Wellington LN295

[Danny152]

Hi all, Is there a copy of COI form.

On the same day, another Australian crew , together with a W.A.A.F. officer S/O K.L.Hughes, were flying Wellington X LN295 on an evening navigation course, when they collided with another Wellington bomber from 26 O.T.U. The two bombers crashed near the main gate at Alconbury Airfield , Huntingtonshire.
The pilot from 26 O.T.U. Sgt. R.B Main of the R.C.A.F. was thrown clear of the wreckage and only had minor injuries. The rest of the crew were killed. Similarily,the pilot from 27 O.T.U. Group Captain P.G. Heffernan of the R.A.A.F. who was the commander of Lichfield, survived but he was the only one to do so. He was admitted to R.A.F. Hospital Ely, where he spent many weeks recovering from his injuries.

Thanks

Danny

[Col Bruggy]

Hello,

Here is an account on the mid-air collision of 27 OTU Wellington X LN295 (A43 Grp Cpt Patrick George HEFFERNAN AFC RAAF), on 6 November, 1943:

I joined the R.A.A.F. in 1929 and along with six other R.A.A.F. pilots we were sent to the UK in 1943 to command various R.A.A.F. squadrons, whose aircrew were predominately Australian. Air Commodore DEL Wilson was to command R.A.F. station Wyton, but after some operational flights he was shot down and became a P.O.W. I was to command the Wellington OTU (No.27), where most of the Australians were crewed up. Wing Commanders Balmer, Forsyth and McCormack were to command various squadrons.

I was taking part in a "Bullseye" which was a miniature bomber raid in which OTU crews took part before going on real ops. There were about 70 Wellingtons in this stream and we were at 17,000. Just as I was about to alter course over the last turning point, I looked down to reset my compass and as I looked up another Wellington appeared right in front of me and I skewered my aircraft on his port wing. I was knocked out and when I came to I found the aircraft in a steep dive as the controls had been jammed forward in the impact. Half the nose was ripped away and my bomb aimer had disappeared. I tried to contact the rest of the crew, but the intercom was out and yelling down through the cabin door did not get any results, so I assumed that they, on possibly seeing me unconscious, had bailed out. I opened the top escape hatch and when I went to stand up, found that my right led was broken. So I hooked my fingers in the loop on top of my flying boot and managed to kick my way out. I hit the mainplane and missed the tail. The chute opened OK and within a few seconds I hit the ground with a wallop. It was a very dark night and after my eyes became used to the darkness I could see a white gate some 150 yards away, so thought that I could crawl to it, but as soon as I put weight on my leg I passed out again. When I came to, I realised the futility of my attempts, so wrapped myself in the chute and tried to settle down for the night. It was now about 2230 on 6.11.1943. When it became daylight, I sat up and watched for any movement and at about 0800 I saw a chap riding a bike so yelled out and he came over. I told him my story and he went off to get an ambulance. He came back with a thermos of hot tea and a bottle of red label, I can assure you that a mix of 4 parts Red Label to 1 of tea was very welcome.The ambulance arrived and I went to Ely hospital where I remained for the next 14 months. It was found that I had broken my leg in 3 places, also had 3 broken ribs and a broken radius in my right arm.All these injuries caused when the other chaps wing came into the cockpit.

NOW, here's the amazing part of the story. Usually in a Wellington the pilot wore a chute harness and the pack was stowed in the nose so when an emergency arose the bomb aimer passed the pack up. That night BOTH the other pilot and myself went to collect our chutes from the packing section and were told that they were being folded, so BOTH of us asked for a seat type which we wore. In my case I would have had no chance of getting to the pack because of my injuries and when the other aircraft broke away it went into an inverted spin, so that the moment the pilot released his harness, he was thrown out of the aircraft. Had he been wearing a chute harness (no pack) he would have been a dead duck, but he only damaged his knee on landing. So BOTH of us were very lucky, as we were the only survivors of both aircraft. Being in an inverted spin, his crew would have had little chance of getting out; I cannot understand why my crew failed to get out and can only assume that they were knocked out with the impact of the collision. The other pilot was a Canadian and was not in the Bullseye, but was doing a night cross country flight and his track crossed the Bullseye stream and that is why we hit at right angles.

My Service number was A43, later changed to 0318 after the war and I managed to end up as an Air Commodore.

See:
Ripcord Australia.
Johnson,W. W.
Eastwood (NSW):A.C.P.A.,1984.
pp.106-7.

Col.

[Danny152]

Col,

Thats perfect words, thanks mate.

Regards

Danny

[Danny152]

Can anyone give me the full name of the RCAF pilot please?

Sergeant R B Main, did he surviuve the war?

Thanks

Danny

[alieneyes1]

Hello,

Main was listed as slightly injured in the Form 765. As such he did not appear on the RCAF Casualty lists.

His s/n was R/154152. No one named Main with the initials R.B. appears on CWGC.

Regards,

Dave

[Alex Smart]

Two RB Main's show up on findagrave Canada.

Robert Boston Main
and Robert Burgess Main.

Other RB Main's do not fit the age/ date.

Alex

[alieneyes1]

You can rule out Robert Boston Main.

Born Scotland 4 December 1882, deceased Victoria, BC 6 April 1953.

Regards,

Dave