Hugh Drummond Venables

Boston III W8325

HD Baker and DJ McKay were also killed.

Hugh A Halliday via rafcommnads.com notes:

"I have been doing some research for a person in New Zealand. Looking at circumstances re loss of Boston W8325, No.418 Squadron, 9 April 1943, I consulted the file of J15823 Henry Douglas Baker, one of the two RCAF crewmen killed, and found the following:

The Germans initially reported his death and stated that the aircraft had been "shot down". Boston W8325 had taken off from Ford at 2202 hours, 9 April 1943 for an intruder mission to the Melun-Bretigny area and did not return. Grave located at St. Andre-de-l'Eure, about 10 miles southeast of Evreux, May 1945. An investigation carried out determining grave locations and included the following as noted by a Squadron Leader Wood interviewing French civilians:

"The crash occurred between 2130 and 2200 hours on April 9th, 1943, as a result of a collision between a large German aircraft and the Boston aircraft W8225 [sic should read W8325], the two aircraft falling within a few hundred metres of each other on the outer perimeter of the St. Andre airfield.

"M. Bulot [mayor] arrived at the scene of the crash within a few minutes but had to return when the Germans arrived with a crash wagon and fire extinguishers.

"I contacted a Madame Bertran who visited the scene of the crash the next morning. She told me she saw three bodies whom a German soldier told her were British. She was not allowed to see the bodies of the Germans killed in the other plane but she saw five coffins for the Germans and three for the British"

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