Halifax DT645 MH-B , 51 Squadron.

As a teenager in the 1960s I often visited my Uncle and Aunt’s house in West Ealing, London. As a poignant reminder of the war, on the sideboard was a picture of a young man who had lost his life with Bomber Command during WW2. I never thought much about it for many years but the memory of the picture stayed with me . Having traced my Aunt Peggy’s surname from her marriage certificate the story of Halifax DT 645 came together.

Sergeant William John Merrigan was the rear gunner of Halifax II DT645 , MH-B of 51 Squadron based at RAF Snaith during April and May of 1943. On the evening of 12th May 1943 at 23.22 hours DT645 set out to bomb Duisberg, at 2.05am near the town of Harlingen, Holland it was brought down by a German night-fighter flown by Oberleutnant* Lothar Linke. The crew are buried in the cemetry at Harlingen

The crew of DT645 were :-

Sgt. D C. Smith – Pilot
Sgt. E F. Kinerman – Flight Engineer
Sgt. E W. Thomson – Navigator
Sgt. B A. Bunting – Air Bomber
Sgt. C L. King – Wireless Operator
Sgt. M H. Nesbitt RCAF – Air Gunner
Sgt. W J. Merrigan – Air gunner

The full story of DT645 are covered in some detail on a number of websites, both English & Dutch :-

http://www.aircrewremembered.com/smith-watson-

http://www.626-squadron.co.uk/willem5.htm

david.htmlhttp://members.ziggo.nl/netuser/1943_HalifaxDT645.htm

On 27 February 1943, Oberleutnant* Lothar Linke. had been appointed Staffelkapitän of 12./NJG 1. Having shot down DT645 at 02.05 hours on the 13th May, on the later evening of the same day he brought down Lancasters ED589 & W4981 . Ironically in a twist of fate , some hours later he himself was also killed when his Bf110 was hit by return fire and he struck the tailplane having baled out, he was credited with 27 kills .

The crew of DT645 were only together on 51 Squadron from 10 April 1943 to 13 May 1943,

Are there any pictures of the crew and their aircraft out there ?