The Eighth Member of the Coffey Crew

 While writing The Job To Be Done, I often found myself wondering what ended up happening to the various aircraft the Coffey crew flew into combat. To me, they all seemed like characters in the story of the crew, worthy of having their stories told. I did manage to squeeze in stories about characters like the Tiger Moth my Dad totalled at flying school, or that pesky Percival Proctor from what I called the “Mystery Flight” of October of 1944. Despite my curiosity about them, I decided not to spend much time delving into these stories, as my focus had to remain on the crew if I was ever to finish the book.
Last month I decided to revisit the question, and it was like old times again, digging into internet archives and sleuthing through various online forums and databases, this time looking for aircraft instead of people.
The Germans had a reputation during the war for meticulous record keeping, but it turns out the Brits were no slouches either. I found an archive online of an amazing wartime document called Form 78. This simple card acted like a biography of every single aircraft to roll off an assembly line in Britain during the Second World War. It was started at the factory when each aircraft was assigned a code number. Once it entered service, its squadron I.D. letters might change, but its code number remained with it for life. Squadrons regularly updated the A.V. Roe or Handley-Page factory with any accidents or losses, and the factories kept the Form 78 cards updated accordingly.
Thus, using the code numbers recorded in Dad’s logbook and in the 405 Squadron’s Operational Record book, I could trace the fates of three of the Lancasters that the Coffey crew flew into combat that summer and autumn of 1944.
Lancaster ND412 was the scrapper of the bunch. I told the story in The Job To Be Done about how the Coffey crew fought for their lives over Wizernes, France in July of 1944 flying in ND412. They had just finished bombing one of Germany’s V2 rocket bases when they were attacked by a German nightfighter – thanks to Bob McWhirter and Ken Hart, the crew’s gunners, they drove the JU88 off. They got safely home, albeit bloodied and battered (literally). ND412 had 146 holes in her and her hydraulic and electrical systems ripped to shreds. The Form 78 says simply that a contractor was needed to repair all the damage, as it was too severe for the squadron mechanics to deal with.
After a month of restoration work, ND412 found a new home with 630 Squadron, flying out of East Kirkby in Lincolnshire. She continued to fly combat operations that year until November 1, when she got into another scrap with the Germans over Homburg and was damaged badly enough to need another month of repair work at the A.V. Roe factory. She returned home to East Kirkby and just a few weeks later, while taking part in an attack on the Urft dam, was mauled again. Another three weeks of repairs were made and ND412 returned to the fray with 630 Squadron once again. An accident, perhaps while landing, on January 30, 1945 seems to have finally signalled “last call” for ND412. She was repaired but sent out to pasture at the No. 22 Maintenance Unit way up north in Cumbria. She languished there for over two years, and eventually this plucky warrior was cut up for scrap in May of 1947.
The story of JB707, the Coffey crew’s next aircraft, is shorter and even sadder. Dad and crew had taken JB707 on several operations during the busy month of July 1944, but then were granted 10 days of leave. Of course, the Lancasters of 405 Squadron got no such leave. While the crew were away, JB707 continued to work. On the night of July 28/29, Flying Officer Elwood Townsend and his crew took off in JB707 and joined 306 other RAF Lancasters attacking Hamburg. They never made it home. On the return trip, while of the coast of Denmark, they were attacked and shot down by a nightfighter, crashing into Ringkobing Fjord without leaving a trace.
When they returned from leave, Dad and crew resumed operations with Lancaster PB402, which had just arrived at Gransden Lodge after a very brief stint with 7 Squadron at RAF Oakington. Throughout the fall of 1944 the Coffey crew flew most of their ops in PB402, including the last, against the synthetic oil plant at Wanni-Eickel in the Ruhr Valley. After that last flight (my Dad’s 59th combat operation) the Coffey crew were done, having completed their required two tours of operations. The aircraft were not so lucky though - they carried on. PB402 flew on operations for another two months or so, until the fateful night of January 16/17, 1945. F/L Harold Payne was 23 years old and from Hanna, Alberta, not that far from my Dad’s hometown of Czar. Payne and his crew took off in PB402 at about 6:30 pm on January 16, joining 327 other Lancasters headed for the synthetic oil plant at Zeitz, Germany. The Payne crew never made it. Some controversy surrounds their fate: was it a nightfighter or a mid-air collision that brought them down? Little matter to the Payne crew, who all perished that night.
The record for combat operations completed by a Lancaster is an incredible 139 by ED888, and she (like thousands of others) was sent to be scrapped in 1947. Luckily, there are a few of these noble warhorses still surviving, lovingly preserved and cared for in museums around the world. Don’t miss an opportunity to see one if you get the chance...and if you do, spare a thought for the tens of thousands of brave young men who died while flying aircraft like them.