4/5 December 1944 - 166 Squadron, RAF Kirmington – Avro Lancaster III – LM176 – F/O Stanley R Hanna RCAF – Op Karlsruhe
Location – One mile east of Kirmington airfield in the vicinity of Little Limber and Bocklesby on Brocklesby Park.
Stanley Hanna graduated from No. 9 Service Flying Training School RCAF Centralia with Course 83 in 1943
He was posted with his crew from an unknown unit to 166 Squadron on the 21st October 1944. The crew consisted of:-
F/O Stanley R Hanna RCAF
Sgt Peter Morris RAFVR
F/O Charles W Macklaier RCAF
F/O Douglas S Howard RCAF
F/S William P Wynnyk RCAF
F/S William R Darling RCAF
Sgt Cecil A Fowler RCAF
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During the next few weeks they completed the following operations
4th November 1944 Bochum NG136
6th November 1944 Gelsenkirken LM289
21st November 1944 Aschaffenburg LM289
27th November 1944 Freiburg PD397
29th November 1944 Dortmund NG200
On the 4/5th December 1944 they were detailed for an attack on Karlsruhe. On return the aircraft stalled on approach to the airfield and spun in exploding in flames and killing all on board. The 166 Squadron ORB states “X flown by F/O Hanna and crew returned to base and was actually approaching to land when it crashed just short of the airfield in Brocklesby Park, all members of the crew were killed.
The final findings of the court of inquiry were that this accident was due failure of the starboard engines on approach due to fuel starvation because of the incorrect recording of the fuel state of the aircraft at take off. It was further noted that this error was unique within 1 Group and that the attention of all captains of aircraft be drawn to the circumstances of this accident
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The six Canadians all rest at the Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery and Sgt Morris is buried at his home town of Kettering in the Kettering London Road Cemetery.
F/O Stanley R Hanna RCAF – 20 - Son of Peter Magnus Hanna and Esther Mary Hanna, of Stavely, Alberta, Canada
Sgt Peter Morris RAFVR – 19 - Son of Charles Edward and Ethel May Morris, of Kettering.
F/O Charles W Macklaier RCAF
F/O Douglas S Howard RCAF – 33 - Son of Frank Edwin and Ines Catherine Erly Howard; husband of Matille Elisabeth Kelly Howard, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.
W/O William P Wynnyk RCAF – 30 - Son of Peter and Nellie Wynnyk, of Stry, Alberta, Canada.
F/S William R Darling RCAF – 19 - Son of Grant Russell Darling and Frances Ethel Darling, of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Sgt Cecil A Fowler RCAF – 20 - Son of Joseph Harold and Sarah Fowler, of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Compiled by David Fell. Top Hanna photo courtesy of the RCAF Centralia Blog. Other photos courtesy of the Canadian Virtual War Memorial website.
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