The aircraft took off from Elvington at 4.30 p.m. and was shot down on the return mission to the Belgian-German border.
Five men will die and are buried in the Hotton Cemetery northeast of Marche-en-Famenne: the pilot, Sqn / Ldr Herbert Frank Bickerdike, the navigator P / Off Robert William Pendergrest, the radio / machine gunner Sgt Ronald Frederick Walter , machine gunners Sgt William Atkinson Cockburn and F / Off Gordon Leonard Hills.
Fl / Lt Frank Shaw, hospitalized with a broken leg, will be arrested.
Bickerdike pilot orders to evacuate the Halifax on fire and after leaving the aircraft, Terence Bolter activates the opening of his parachute and realizes that his six comrades will not be able to evacuate the plane he sees fall apart and crash into flames.
Bolter is the only one of this device who will manage to escape. The following is a synthesis of information from Comet's archives, memories of Bolter himself (the unpublished account of his escape: "Escape from Enemy-Occupied Europe" and summarized among others in “Home Run “By John Nicholl and Tony Rennell, who interviewed Bolter in May 2005) as well as press extracts (“ Info 2000 “, articles from 1993 and André Collard de Marche in 2003.)
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