| Bob, e-mail, 25.10.2021 12:50 My late wife's cousin was stationed at RAF East Moor 158 Sqn, he perished on what appears to be his first operational sortie 2 weeks after the passed out from training, he flew W7752 NP-T over Germany.
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| Bruce Lecren, e-mail, 11.07.2020 05:45 Hello Ray...
Denis LeCren was my father, and the mid-upper gunner on the "Hicken's Chickens" Halifax crew.
I met Howard Hicken a few years ago at his home in Raymond, Alberta and he shared some reminiscences of his time in the RCAF.
I would love to get in touch...
Regards,
Bruce LeCren
Beaumont, AB
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| Bruce LeCren, e-mail, 14.05.2015 18:08 For Michael Hicken and Ray Kemp...
My father was Denis LeCren and flew as part of the "Hicken's Chickens" crew of 426 squadron.Michael, we visited your dad a few years ago at his home and met you and your family.
Ray, I would love to get in touch.
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| andrewjhitchman@talktalk.net, 13.09.2013 17:31 My Dad Joseph Hitchman DFC OF 158 Squadron Lisset was the first pilot of the best known Halifax 3 Friday 13th LV907. If anyone is interested in his story please get in touch
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| Garry Meyer, e-mail, 05.02.2013 20:58 My father JK Ken Meyer was a Bomb Aimer the the 431st Squadron. He flew with Sgt Mc Vicar on over 40 missions in 1 tour from May 44 through September 44. I have his logbooks which include; receipts for his bombs, maps, identity card, language conversion card and a title to a car that he won in a card game. His Irvin Air Chute 1940 jacket is still in one piece. After the war he requested his bombsight photos from the war ministry. There is an envelope postmarked in 1946 from Ottawa with photos from each mission. Quite a collection that will be passed down in the family.
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| Michael Hicken, e-mail, 08.12.2012 06:57 Ray Kemp,
My Father Howard Hicken was the pilot of your Dad's crew. I would love to discuss further and see any pictures that you may have. mhicken20@gmail.com I can figure out the email listed but if you could email me that would be great.
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| Ray Kemp, e-mail, 28.11.2012 22:28 My Dad was a flight engineer on the Halifax and did 2 tours of ops , I think it was 40 raids ? He was the only Brit in the crew of 7 , the rest were all Canadians and the pilot was F/O Hicken and if I remember correctly the squadron number was 426 . The other crew members were FS Cohen , FS Hodson , F/O Myers , FS LeCren , Sgt Morgan and of course my Dad Sgt Kemp .I have some amazing original pics of the squadron and target tokens if anyone wants to have a look .
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| George Sveinbjornson, e-mail, 21.02.2012 05:32 My uncle was a bomb aimer on this aircraft and flew 35 missions between 1943 and 1945. I believe he said he was with 76 squadron with the RCAF. On return from a bombing run he said the pilot often let him take over the controls so he could get a bit of sleep. At times the crew would sit on their parachutes as this gave them better protection from flack. He said the nazis didn't like the Halifax very much, a testimony to their effectiveness.
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| Clipper, 01.08.2011 06:22 How long did your father serve? I was a tail gunner with 427 in 1943. We flew Mad Dog for twelve ops before I lost my leg. The Halibag was tough, for some reason we had a Boulton-Paul twin-gun turret for our bombardier Smudge in addition to our standard four-gun turrets. I don't think any other plane had that configuration, and the erks got rid of it after op No. 3. I think that pissed Smudge off, he liked the turret. The single Vickers always seemed to be knocking him on the old block when he was at his Mickey Mouse.
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| Fraser Hoare, e-mail, 05.05.2011 10:31 My Father was a Pilot in 427(RCAF)and flew these for a couple of years on the Northern Europe raids out of Leeming.
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| Barry, 21.02.2011 17:14 Like it's more famous contempory, the Avro Lancaster, the "Halibag" was first designed to take two Rolls Royce Vulture engines fortunately a decision was made to use four Rolls Roce Merlins. Under specification P13/36 the gross weght was set at 26,300lb which was to grow in the fullness of time to 68000lb. This plane was as stable and as reliable a plane as anyone could wish. The early marks, MkI and MkII gave away eventually to the definitive Bristol Hercules powered MkIII. Later marks were used by coastal command and transport command. The transport model was the C.VIII which featured a quick change 8000lb cargo pannier in place of the bomb bay with seating for 11 passengers. This in turn led to the post war Halton transport illustrated in the photo above. The final mission in RAF service was by a GR VI ex Gibraltar in March 1952 with the L'Armee de l'Air phasing out their B.VI at about the same time.
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| James Bowles, e-mail, 21.12.2010 03:15 My Father in-law( Edward Moorecroft) was a rear tail gunner in a Halifax
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| Mike Young, e-mail, 12.12.2010 06:52 My father was a Flight Engineer on Halifax II's and V's with 518 Met. Squadron operating from Tiree in the Hebrides.
He considered it to be the "Queeen of the skies".
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| Ben May, e-mail, 07.09.2010 21:19 I flew as flight engineer on Mk. 3 Halifaxes in 1944-45 and as far as I am concerned it was a first class aircraft. We used to synchronise the engines by looking through the overlapping props and taping the C.S.U.(constant speed unit)lever until the shadow was stationary. Unlike the Lancaster (which I also served on)it was a nice warm aircraft with it's air-cooled engines. Anyone from No. 420 Sqdn. still around ?
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| Graham, e-mail, 08.12.2009 18:26 My father flew as a tail gunner in the Halifax and tells me that the Hercules engines when synchronised sounded better than the merlins!!!
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| paul scott, e-mail, 09.09.2009 21:14 Yes, Lester, probably the best sounding engine of WW2 - certainly the best performer in my opinion - as you know, it transformed the P51 100%.
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| radek, e-mail, 11.02.2009 17:23 oooh man....sound of pure power of victory....love that..
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| Lester, e-mail, 08.09.2008 00:18 Having heard the sweet music of a single Merlin in a P-51, I can't imagine what four of them must sound like.
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