May 5, 1943 Crash of Vickers Wellington Bomber HE 727

On May 5, 1943, Vickers Wellington Bomber HE 727, one of 600 aircraft involved in an air raid on the town of Dortmund, Germany, was intercepted and shot down by a German Messerschmitt ME 110 fighter while on return to its home base in Dalton, Yorkshire. Two of the five aircrew, Flight Sergeant Gordon Carter and Flight Sergeant Howard Hoddinott, parachuted out and were taken prisoner by the Germans.

The remaining three crew members Flight Sergeant Joseph Evariste Adrien Thibaudeau, age 21, Flight Sergeant Joseph White, age 22, and Warrant Officer Class I Robert Benjamin Moulton, age 20, perished in the crash at Wilnis, Holland.

According to a Dutch eyewitness account at the time, it is believed that WOI Moulton, in a heroic last-ditch effort, managed to avoid crashing the stricken Wellington Bomber into the village of Wilnis thereby saving many lives.

The Wellington's crash was claimed by the German pilot Hans Dieter Frank, who shot down 55 Allied aircraft. On September 27, 1943, Frank - who was at that time 24 years of age - was killed in a mid-air collision with another German plane.