In the night of 15/16 February, Sgt Darwood's
and his crew participated in an attack on the
German capital Berlin. It would be their seventh
operation. They were one of 20 Halifaxes of 466
squadron to fly this night.
John's crew consisted of:
F/S J D Wormald, Captain (Pilot)
F/S F K Williams, (Navigator)
F/S C Sheldon, (Bomb Aimer)
F/S H C L Thomas, (Wireless Operator Air)
F/S T F Eastcott, (Rear Gunner)
F/S R J Newell, (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sgt J T Darwood, (Flight Engineer)
'The Ace Crew';
Standing left to right; Cecil Thomas, Sam
Darwood, Colin Sheldon, Tom Eastcott.
Kneeling, left to right; Charlie Newell, Jack
Wormald and Frank Williams. (Picture Mrs Wormald
via
Ab Jansen in Gevleugeld Verleden, pg 353.
Used with permission)
All were Australians, except for Sgt Darwood,
who was British.
The crew took off in Halifax HX293 HD-F from RAF
Leconfield at 1711 hours. Three Halifaxes of 466
returned early due to technical malfunctions.
Nothing was heard from HX293 after take off and
it did not return to base. It was one of two of
466 squadron not to return.
According to Mr. Buma, on whose land the Halifax
crashed, the plane was attacked by a night
fighter over Holwierde. It came down in a glide,
apparently trying to make an emergency landing.
Over Opende it first made one big circle before
it came down. It seems that the plane made a
soft first touch but then somehow somersaulted
and exploded near the outskirts of the village
of Opende, 32 kilometers west of Groningen.
Pieces of the plane were found hundreds of
meters away.
All the crew were killed and are buried in the
Grootegast Protestant Churchyard, Opende.
Sgt John Darwood is buried at Row 63. Coll.
grave 1-7.
(Picture by Wim Bastiaanse)