Excavations > 2008>

	Halifax, Berlin

Halifax navigator Reg Wilson has played a part in locating the wreck of his own Halifax; LW337 from 102 Squadron. The Halifax was lost on the night of 20th -21st January 1944 on a raid to Berlin. After releasing its bombs and as the bomb doors started to close, it was shot down by a German night fighter. It crashed into woodland at Hirschgarten Friedrichshagen on the outskirts of Berlin, killing the four men left aboard.

The crew was:
Pilot Laurie Underwood (Baled out)
2nd pilot, Sgt Kenneth Stanbridge (Buried in 1944)
Flight engineer, Sergeant John Bremner. (missing – now found)
Navigator Reg Wilson (Baled out)
Tail gunner John Bushell (Baled out)
Wireless operator Eric Church (Buried in 1944)
Mid-upper gunner Charles Dupueis (Still missing)

Two bodies were recovered in 1944 and are buried in the Berlin War Cemetery, but two other bodies were never found. Remains unearthed at the crash site have now been identified by DNA testing as those of the aircraft’s flight engineer, Sergeant John Bremner.
64 years later Sergeant Bremner was buried with full military honours close to the grave of the aircraft’s 2nd pilot, Sgt Kenneth Stanbridge in the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Heerstrasse, Berlin in October 2008.
At the cemetery were fellow crew members Reg Wilson and John Bushell plus family members for the other crew. Reliving the moments when the aircraft was hit by fire from the Messerschmitt 110 John Bushell added; “The whole of the thing caught fire on the starboard wing and the pilot told us to bale out. Reg Wilson and the bomb aimer baled out it and it was John who helped Reg to open the hatch, but it was him who didn’t get out.”

Read the MoD news report.

	Reg Wilson, in October 2008, who played a part in locating the wreck of his own Halifax.
	Halifax Navigator Reg Wilson as he was in WW2.
	Flight engineer, Sergeant John Bremner, whose body was located by Reg and German historians.