Faldingworth Memorial Commemorated Aircrew
RAF HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit) 1667 Halifax Mk. V EB185
Night training exercise. Lost at Faldingworth, 16th December 1943.
Took off from Faldingworth and crashed at 23:25 approximately 1 mile North-East of main runway.
26th Sept. 2009. Aircraft parts placed by brother and niece of Sgt. Leslie Robert Cox.
Halifax DG358
Training Flight. Lost in Wales (Bwlch-y-ffridd) 23rd January 1944
Brian Poole et al., (Newton, Powys) placed hawthorn, charred oak and soil from crash site in memorial.
Sgt. William Henry WAREHAM
Royal Air Force
Volunteer Reserve
RAF 300 Polish Squadron Lancaster LL857 BH-B
Operation Dortmund, 23rd May 1944. Crashed on returning 22nd / 23rd May 1944.
Took off from Faldingworth 22:40. Engine trouble caused turn back of aircraft. Hit ‘firing butts’ on landing. 3 airmen died in the crash, and one later.
The pilot was pulled out of the blazing aircraft by Sgt. Bienowski who was on duty at the airfield.
26th Sept 2009. Part placed by daughter of farm manager of land on which Lancaster crashed.
Note: M Golec KIA 13/06/1944. J Nalepa KIA 02/09/1944
DV286 BH-C
Operation Gelsenkirchen, targeting a synthetic oil factory. 12th June 1944
Took off from Faldingworth 12th June 1944. Shot down at 01:43 hrs by a German night fighter. The wreck was discovered by accident by fisherman in 1998 near the village of Wijdenes, the Netherlands.
4th April 2004. Part placed in Memorial
Resting place of 5 of the DV286 crew
Polish Military Field of Honour at Breda, Holland. The sixth killed crewmember Felix Bladowski was buried on this site in 1962
EE124 BH-M
Operation (repeated) flying bomb site Les Hayons, Belgium. 24th June 1944.
Crashed at Lissington, south of Market Rasen. Lincolnshire, on return. This occurred in front of a Church garden party. The son of a local policeman on site tried to save members of the crew.
8th September 2007. A part placed in the Memorial, having been retrieved from the crash site.
PB252 BH-M
Operation Stuttgart, 26th July 1944
Outward-bound, collided in the air near Orleans with a Canadian crew from RAF Squadron 103 and at 01:00 was partially abandoned. Flt Sgt Witrylak PAF (Polish Air Force) quickly made contact with the local Maquis and he arrived back in England on 20 August 1944
8th September 2007. Piece of Lancaster given by Mr. Immezeel from the French crash site.
DV278 BH-AM
Operation Falaise. 14th August 1944
Operation to bomb an aiming point at Falaise where the German Armour was falling back towards the Seine, in what became known as the 'Falaise Gap'. Shot down by anti-aircraft fire and crashed near Pont D'Ouilly, a small village about 15 km West Southwest of Falaise.
4th April 2002. Part placed in Memorial. Veterans and friends from Faldingworth visited crash site in France where the part was donated by a Mr Taveau.
PAS163 BH-T
Operation Stettin. 29th August 1944
Crashed into the Lovns Bredning bay in Denmark. It was part of a raid on Stettin, having taken off from RAF Faldingworth. The crew consisted of 7 personnel, 6 of whom perished. The pilot was Fl/Lt Waclaw Wasik, who managed to survive and evade capture.
8th September 2007. Piece of BH-M placed by Mr Erik Holst Christensen from Denmark. He had retrieved it the day after the aircraft crashed.
PB823 BH-T
Operation Nurmberg. 2nd January 1945
Took off from RAF Faldingworth at 15:16 hrs. Exploded in the vicinity of Laix (Meurthe-et-Moselle), Baslieux and Vile-au-Montois, three villages some 12 km E to SE of Longuyon.
4th April 2004. Parts sent by J P Gaillot from France and the pilots brother Pawel Janas
PA185 BH-W
Operation Dresden (Operation Thunderclap). 13th February 1945
12 minutes after take-off, collided with a late take-off Lancaster B2 NF932 of 550 Sqd (N Killingholme) over Stotts Farm, Apley, near Wragby, Lincolnshire.
26th September 2009. Parts placed by pilot’s daughter and his brother from America
NG266 BH-L
Operation Pforzheim. 23rd February 1945
History is not clear. Took off from Faldingworth at 16:04 hrs. Lost between Eutingen and Niefern. Unconfirmed report that a Lancaster I with code BH-L (NG266) may have collided with another aircraft (RA515) on 23/24 February 1945, with the crew (Polish Air Force) perishing. Members of the crew are associated with the Dürnbach War Cemetery in Germany.
4th April 2004. Part placed by the son of M Ziegenhirte.
NG269 BH-K
Search Exercise. 8th January 1946
Crashed and destroyed on night of 8th January while returning to RAF Faldingworth following a training sortie. The pilot was unable to locate the airfield while flying in adverse weather conditions, and was unable to contact ground to get a 'fix' on his position, due the failure of the radio communication systems. While flying at a too low altitude, the aircraft hit a tree and crashed in flames in a field located in Normanby-le-Wold, West Lindsey, Lincolnshire.
29th September 2009. Part placed by widow’s son.
