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Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
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RAF Crest
18.12.1944 No. 3 LFS Lancaster I R5674 A5-K P/O. Horace W. Harler

Operation: Training

Date: 18th December 1944

Unit: No. 3 LFS. (Lancaster finishing school)

Type: Lancaster I

Serial: R5674

Code: A5-K

Base: RAF Feltwell, Thetford, Norfolk

Location: Hockwold cum Wilton, Thetford, Norfolk

Pilot: P/O. Horace William Harler AUS/436325 RAAF Age 20. Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. Peter Aspinall 1623866 RAFVR Age 21. Killed

Nav: Fl/Sgt. Dennis William Harris 1580053 RAFVR Age 23. Killed

Air/Bmr: F/O. Douglas Edwin Parsons 154808 RAFVR Age 22. Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Percy Alfred Ewins AUS/19883 RAAF Age 23. Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. Cyril Frank Farley 1594250 RAFVR Age 19. Killed

Air/Gnr: Sgt. James Foster 1558684 RAFVR Age 23. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 18:51 hrs. from Feltwell near Thetford Norfolk on a general night flying training exercise - this was the final parts of 63 training course and this nights training included air to air firing, circuits and landings at Waterbeach, Methwold and Tempsford.

On the return to Feltwell several aircraft were on a circuit preparing to land when at 21:51 hrs. two aircraft collided, crashing, killing both crew's of R5846 (see archive report) and R5674.

In 1984 the Anglian Aeronautical Preservation Society found four Merlin engines, machine guns and other equipment. Most of which are now on display at the Norfolk and Suffolk Museum in Flixton, Suffolk.

Burial details:

P/O. Horace William Harler. Cambridge City Cemetery Grave 1354. Son of Horace Jones Harler and Edith Maud Harler, of South Perth, Western Australia.

Sgt. Peter Aspinall. Elland Cemetery Sec E. Grave 14. Son of Marshall and Annie Kathleen Gledhill, of Elland, England.

Fl/Sgt. Dennis William Harris. Olton Franciscan Cemetery Sec G. Grave 441. Son of William Clarance and Gertrude Agnes Harris, of King's Heath, Birmingham, England.

F/O. Douglas Edwin Parsons. Manchester Southern Cemetery Sec Z. Cof E. Grave 495. Son of Frederick John and Victoria Louisa Alice Parsons, husband of Edith Parsons, of Moston, Manchester, England.

Fl/Sgt. Percy Alfred Ewins. Cambridge City Cemetery Grave 15355. Son of Albert Percival and Emily Ewins, husband of Ivy Lorraine Ewins of Hampton, Victoria, Australia.

Sgt. Cyril Frank Farley. Harrowgate (Stonefall) Cemetery Sec H. Row D. Grave 11. Son of Edward George Frank and Laura Mabel Farley, of Harrogate, England.

Sgt. James Foster. Sunderland (Southwick) Cemetery Sec 2. Grave 583. No further details available, are you able to assist?

With thanks to Ian McLachlan - "Final Flights" with other sources quoted below.

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Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and Captain François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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