Looking for info on HF600 Wellington X crash 29 Sept 43
Hope this is the right forum, if not please move.
An old friend lost his brother who was a bomb aimer in an "aircraft accident" on 29th Sept 1943, and has asked me to find out what information is available. He does know his brother, Sgt Charles Braund had said to the family the aircraft "weren’t airworthy". Whether he was referring to this particular one or most 17OTU ones I don't know.
I have found out a bit of history regarding the Wellington involved and it does seem to have been a bit unlucky.
Wellington HF600 was built to contract B124362/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd at Chester and delivered to MU for acceptance in June 1943 before being issued to 428 Squadron at Middleton St.George in mid-June 1943. It was then transferred to 429 Squadron at East Moor during the last week of June 1943. On 7th July 1943 the crew of this aircraft were tasked with mine-laying and bombing U-Boat pens at Brest, France when it was hit by flak from a flakship. The damage was serious in that it knocked out the aircraft's hydraulic system which operated bomb doors and the doors were also bent in the attack. The crew were unable to locate the target area and returned safely to East Moor. Cat.A/FB damage was recorded and the aircraft was repaired Following the damage sustained above Cat.A/FB damage was recorded. It was repaired at East Moor which was completed by 24th July 1943. Whilst returning from Ops on 3rd August 1943 it suffered engine trouble and made emergency landing at Swanton Morley. Repairs were carried out on site their but on completion later in the month, the aircraft was not returned to it's unit, but transferred to 17 OTU at Silverstone. It was then destroyed in a Cat. E2/FA accident on 29th September 1943 when it dived into ground 1.5 miles West of Wappenham, Northamptonshire killing six of its then crew.
Can anyone point me in the right direction, i.e. did the RAF have Boards of Inquiry and accident investigations during the war, where I can find further information on the crash.