Flight Sergeant Ernest Burton Wilcox
Royal Air Force (150 Squadron)
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
Vickers Wellington IC R1044
On 27th May 1941 orders were received for three aircraft to carry out an attack on the channel port of Boulogne. At 0130 on 28th they took off at three minute intervals from RAF Newton.
Two of the aircraft released bombs over the target area and a third, Wilcox's Wellington, bombed an alternative target of Ostend.
On the return to base the aircraft ran into low cloud. It was trying to ascertain it's position when it crashed into a hillside 4 miles from Leicester. The aircraft broke in two on impact and the front section caught fire.
Five members of the crew were killed, including Flt Sgt Wilcox. One member of the crew, Rear Gunner Sgt Edmunds, escaped with only minor injuries.
Wilcox is buried Burwell Cemetery, Cambridgeshire
His headstone bears the inscription
"AT THE RISING AND GOING DOWN OF THE SUN
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"
///litigate.farmed.written
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