'Coned' and shot down over Aachen

5th October 1942: Navigation errors by Bomber Command devastate a Dutch town as an American airman has another lucky escape on the same raid

Halifax Mark II Series I, W7676 'TL-P', of No.35 Squadron RAF based at Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire, being piloted by Flight Lieutenant Reginald Lane, (later Lieutenant-General, RCAF), over the English countryside. Flt Lt Lane and his crew flew twelve operations in W7676, which failed to return from a raid on Nuremberg on the night of 28/29 August 1942, when flown by Flt Sgt D John and crew.

Within the ranks of RAF Bomber Command there were many foreign volunteers. Some belonged to the Commonwealth airforces - Canadian, Australian and New Zealand but also many refugees from occupied Europe, with many Poles, Czechs and French. Sometimes they were in ‘national squadrons’ but often they were not. In amongst them were other nationalities.

American George Harsh was a convicted murderer who had served (survived might be a better term) 12 years on a Georgia chain gang before being pardoned. In an attempt to make a fresh start in life he travelled to Canada where he joined the RCAF. In time he was posted to RAF Bomber Command in Britain, as a tail gunner on a Halifax bomber.

An armourer checks the tail guns on a Halifax bomber.

Harsh¹ had not been scheduled to fly and only joined the flight at the last minute when he volunteered on the evening of 5th October.

Dusk gathers as these R.A.F. Halifax bombers take off to raid Germany.

The target for the night was the German city of Aachen. There were problems with navigation for many crews that night but his aircraft got hopelessly lost. When they were trying to establish where they were Harsh looked out, recognised the Cathedral, and saw that they were flying over Cologne, around 80 km east from the target. He soon knew that were in trouble: