The Halifax takes off from Breighton at 11.50 p.m. (UK time) for the first operation carried out by this crew. As soon as it flew over the Continent, the aircraft was caught in the spotlight by powerful projectors. The pilot Johnstone performs evasive maneuvers and brings the plane above the objective, on which his bombs are dropped. On the return flight, around 4:10 am continental time, the JD409 was attacked above the Antwerp Campine by Rupprecht and his radio operator Vornhausen. Harold Street witnesses explosions between the rear turrets and his own, which he believes were caused by shots from the Flak. His turret fills with a penetrating smell of smoke, he grabs a headache and faints. When he regains his senses, he hears the voice of two of his teammates (none of them is that of the pilot) who shout "
Street manages to stifle the start of the conflagration of his parachute. He endorses it and goes backwards, managing, despite the tremors and vibrations, to open the escape hatch. After a last glance at the empty rear turret, he prepares to jump and, while his legs are swaying in the void, he finds that he has not placed his parachute correctly. He leaves the Halifax when the rear turret is filled with flames and then loses consciousness. He doesn't come back to himself until he reaches the ground, lying on his parachute, only remembering that he could have seen it open above him.
Only Harold Street will emerge alive from the crash. His 6 teammates are killed: the pilot Sgt Alan David Johnstone; mechanic Sgt Arthur Alfred Reeves, 18; navigator Sgt William Philip Williams, 27; the bomber Sgt Alec Henry Peadon; radio operator Sgt Kenneth William Smith, 21, and rear gunner Sgt Thomas Ivor Goodwin, 20. All were first buried inside the walls of Fort III in Antwerpen, their remains having been transferred after the war to the cemetery of the Schoonselhof in Hoboken (Antwerpen.)
