The plane, which had taken off from Waddington at 21:48, dropped its bombs and on the way back suffered the attack of the German fighter. Major Martin Drewes is quoted as having shot down the aircraft and, following his fall, abstained from completing it, thus allowing the crew to evacuate it… and have your life saved.
Crew: F/L Arthur B. Simpson, RAAF, pilot; F/S Kenneth W. Manson, RAAF, bomber; F/O Raymond C. Watts, navigator; F/S Colin A. Campbell, RAAF, Rear Gunner; Sgt C. P. Curl, Flight Engineer; P/O G. Johnson, RAAF, Wireless operator; Reginald Weeden.
All managed to escape, but Raymond Watts and Kenneth Manson were arrested on 28 April 1944, held in Liège prison until August, and then sent to Germany – Watts at Stalag Luft 3, Prisoner N° 6969 and Manson at Stalag Luft 7, Prisoner N° 522. Colin Campbell (SPG 2507) and Arthur Simpson (SPG 2439) reached Switzerland on 1 May 1944 and joined England.
Johnson (SPG 3097) and Curl (SPG 2895) escaped together and were liberated by American troops on 8 September 1944, returning to England the next day. They apparently did not pass through the Marathon camps in the Ardennes and were/were likely hiding in the area.
The name of Reggie Weeden appears in a list of Gaston Matthys placing him with 27 other airmen in the Bohan Camp* before they all reach Beffe then Porcheresse (this last camp, managed by Emile ROISEUX).
* Resistance camps where airmen were hiden from the Germans
Released on September 6, 1944, the F/O Weeden is taken to Paris with other airmen and takes a plane the next day to Hendon in England.