Memorial at Gibb Hill Lutton, South Hams

Walking today from Lee Mill, Devon we came across this memorial at Lutton

Pilot Officer. Geoffrey Ernest Robertson, Pilot, 25yrs
Sgt. Dudley Howard Harris, observer/2nd pilot/navigator, 20yrs
Sgt. Dennis Roy Simpson, wireless operator, 26yrs
Sgt. Peter Edward James Jenkins, flight engineer, 22yrs
Sgt. Lawrence Henry Nicolson, front gunner, 21yrs
Sgt. Frank Sidney Clark, mid-upper gunner, 25yrs
Sgt. Cecil Jacques Bond, rear gunner, 19yrs.

Pilot Officer, Robertson and his crew has been involved in some of the heaviest raids on occupied Europe on previous occasiosn but on this particular night of August 20th 1942, they were on relatively lighter duty, or so they thought, over the west coast of France; that night they came up against heavy anti aircraft defences.

It is possible that some damage was sustained and that the radio equipment may have been inoperative as the Stirling crew headed back home after carrying out their duties. It is also possible that the fuel tanks may have been damaged and holed and they had insufficient fuel to make it back to base.

The weather at the times wasn't good; low Dartmoor cloud hung over Gibb Hill. Visibility must have been down to a few hundred yards. Disaster struck at approximately 3:25am on the morning of August 21st when the Stirling R9329 flew into the side of Gibb Hill, catching fire.

All seven airmen were killed in the crash and the wreckage was strewn several hundred yards. Bomber Command had lost yet another seven of Britain's finest.