426 Squadron and the Halifax LW682

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Canadian achievements in the air during the Second World War were remarkable. RCAF units took part in every major air operation overseas, from the Battle of Britain to the bombing of Germany. They flew every kind of aircraft there was from the workhorse Dakota to the Mosquito, Halifax, Liberator, Lancaster and the glamorous Spitfire. In all, more than 232,500 men and 17,000 women served in the RCAF both in home defence and farther afield.

The biggest and costliest Canadian air commitment was in Bomber Command. At the beginning of 1943, 11 Canadian bomber squadrons were brought together to form an all-Canadian No. 6 (RCAF) Bomber Group, under the command of Air Vice-Marshal G.E. Brooks, whom Air Vice-Marshal C.M. McEwen succeeded a year later. Initially No. 6 (RCAF) Group (composed of Squadrons 405, 408, 419, 420, 424, 425, 426, 427 and 428) suffered a grim casualty rate. Between March 5 and June 24, 1943, the group lost 100 aircraft, 7 per cent of its strength. However, by mid-1944 with better equipment and training, more experience, and fighter protection up to the targets, the situation was reversed. At the end of 1944, No. 6 (RCAF) Group could boast the lowest casualties of any group in Bomber Command. This was not to be the case for one 426 Squadron crew on a grim night in May 13, 1944.

May 1944 was a month of intensive air activity over France as Bomber Command interrupted the strategic offensive against Germany to give its powerful support to the Tactical Air Forces in sealing the future battle area in Normandy, and in pounding the "rocket" sites that the Germans were busily preparing in the Pas de Calais.

After a successful attack on coastal installations at Calais on May 9, the 426 Squadron returned to railroad targets in Belgium, bombing the yards at Ghent on the 10th and those at Louvain two nights later. The first attack was heavily concentrated, producing a good cover of great clouds of dust and smoke, but the second was less satisfactory. One bomber had to return early; another, shot up by a fighter and flak, was forced to abandon its mission; two more were unable to identify the target, and two did not return.

Halifax LW682 of the 426 Squadron crashed near Geraardsbergen (Grammont). Unfortunately the entire crew perished - Pilot Officer Wilbur Boyd Bentz, Pilot Officer Fred Roach, Pilot Officer John (Jack) Wilson Summerhayes, Clifford Stanley Phillips, Navigator Thomas Wessel Taylor, AOP/AG Jack Edwin McIntyre, Mid-under gunner Joseph Edouard Jean Guy Arbour, and Flight Engineer Roy Ellerslie.

When the German forces arrived at the site, they could only recover the remains of five airmen, four Canadians and one British. A German document, written at the time the recovery unit left the site, states that they could recover almost nothing from the plane because it had crashed in the boggy ground near the Dender river. Three airmen, all Canadians, were clearly still buried within the wreckage. They were Pilot Officer Wilbur Boyd Bentz, Pilot Officer John (Jack) Wilson Summerhayes, and Pilot Officer Fred Roach.

These three Canadians were entombed in the mud near Geraardsbergen until this past August, when a small group of Canadian volunteers led by Karl Kjarsgaard of the Halifax Aircraft Association and the pilot's nephew, Jay Hammond, travelled to the site to organize recovery of the remains of the three missing men and of the aircraft, a now rare and historic Halifax Bomber. The recovery of Halifax LW682 was assisted by the Belgian Aviation History Association and many Belgian volunteers, and sponsored by the 426 Squadron Association with funding support from the Department of Canadian Heritage. On September 6, the team successfully recovered the remains of the three missing airmen, who will be buried alongside their comrades.

Veterans Affairs Canada, the Canadian Forces and the 426 (Thunderbird) Squadron Association have planned a funeral service for November 10 at the Geraardsbergen (Gammont) Communal Cemetery, for the three men. The next of kin of most of the eight crew members will be present. Also attending will be members of the 426 Squadron Association, the Air Force Association of Canada, the RCAF POW Association and the Belgian Aviation History Association and representatives of the Belgian government.