history · 20 March 1941 · 83 years ago
A flight of three Manchester bombers from RAF Waddington in England, United Kingdom set out to bomb German submarines at Lorient, France. Less than thirty minutes into the mission one aircraft developed an engine fire which forced its captain to order the crew to abandon the stricken aircraft. Four crewmen jumped but only two survived and two others were killed. The pilot (with one other crewman still aboard) then attempted to bring the aircraft home but in attempting to land struck a tree and crashed, killing both airmen. Aircraftsman Charles Leonard Wheatley, seeing that the fire threatened to explode the high-explosive bombs still aboard, bravely fought the fire, from only two yards away, and successfully prevented any further damage to the base. For this gallant action Wheatley would be awarded the George Medal from the King on 4 Nov 1941.
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