Story discovered by Nick Nicholls in the closed Halifax Facebook group and reproduced with permission.
Tragic scenes on November 1st 1944 as Halifax MZ424 lies burning at RAF Spilsby after been struck by Lancaster PD290, which swung out of control whilst taking off bound for the Meerbeck oil plant in Homburg, demolishing a number of nissen huts before crashing into a row of 429 Squadron Halifaxes which had been diverted here.
The Lancaster crew scrambled clear as the inferno spread but 429 Squadron Flight Engineer Sgt Frederick Patrick Platt from Oldham climbed aboard Halifax MZ824 AL-G intending to move it to safety but as he started the engines the Halifax swung round facing the blaze when a 1000Ib bomb aboard the Lancaster exploded seriously wounding the 31yr old who succumbed to his injuries before reaching Rauceby hospital.