Sgt John James Newbon
Royal Air Force 419 Squadron
from:Manchester
(d.18th Aug 1943)
Halifax JD158 was the sixteenth of a series of thirty-eight Halifax Mk. II aircraft of the JD series to be manufactured by English Electric Company (Salmesbury & Preston) between May 7th and June 28th of 1943. It first shows on the Operations Record Book on May 23rd. of that year and designated as VR-D.
From that date until July 13th VR-D was the aircraft normally flown by F/O Chick McIntosh and his crew, who had several encounters with night fighters during that time. McIntosh flew ten operations on JD158 before completing his Tour. From July through to August 12th the Halifax with the triple headed dragon was flown by S/L McMurdy and his crew.
On the night of August 17/18th 1943 the captain of JD158 was F/L Stanley Heard who normally flew JB859 "Thundering Heard", but the aircraft was not available that night. (It has been mentioned in some sources that JD158 may have also been VR-H "Have Another" at some point in the time this Halifax was at 419 Squadron. Log Books and ORB for May through August 1943 show JD158 to be on strength with the squadron throughout that period. There is no gap found where it may have been removed from service, which is the only way that any other squadron code would be changed to another letter. From May 23rd to it's loss on August 17/18th records show JD158 was always VR-D.) Also the art work for "Have Another" shows a Kangaroo and a Joey riding a bomb, the explanation given for the use of these animals was that one of F/L Heard's men was Australian. Except for Sgt.Blyth and Sgt. Newborn, who both were RAF, all others of the Heard crew were Canadian. (There was an Australian pilot performing his second 2nd. pilot sortie with F/L Heard when the crew was lost which may have provided some confusion.) So from this information it looks like "Have Another" was not JD158 but another Halifax -H, most likely not 419 Squadron that I can find.
