Handley Page Halifax III (MZ507 MH-P2) on a mission to Berlin on 1944-03-25

On Friday, 24 March 1944, (a part of) the aircraft of the 51 squadron (RAF), took off for a mission to Berlin in Germany from a station (airfield) in or near Snaith.
One of the crew members was Flight Lieutenant R Curtis. He departed for his mission at 18:43.
He flew with a Handley Page Halifax (type III, with serial MZ507 and code MH-P2). His mission and of the other crew members was planned for Saturday, 25 March 1944.

Craig Galloway about his uncle (Alan Sidebotham) who was on this flight.

He flew with a Handley Page Halifax (type III, serial MZ507, code MH-P2).

For 35 years my Uncle Alan (Sidebotham) didnt really know what happened. He thought it was a mid air collision and he fell out with his parachute. He had no memory of exiting the plane. He used to wear his "catapillar club" tie with pride - to be a member you have to have had you're life saved by a parachute. In 1992 BBC Bristol did a program called "Splendid Hearts" (believe that was the title) that took him to the road through what was East Germany that was the only overland route to Berlin. They stopped close to the crash site. After that program a German researcher rang nearly every A Sidebotham in the phone book (pre internet) until he found my uncle. The German researcher filled him on the detail. I was told that one of the German airman bailed outof the ME110 as the pilot deliberately flew into the Halifax - hence why the story came to light. I can't verify that there was one survivor of the ME110 but that is what i was told.

My uncle said the locals saw he was a young lad and took him for a drink before the German army took him away in the back of a truck with the rest of the crew including the deceased. One other of the Halifax aircrew survived for year before dying as a POW.

For 6 months Alan's family didnt know if he was a alive or dead. His name was announced at the end of a "lord haw haw" propaganda radio broadcast from Germany that Alan's mum's neighbours heard who then told his family. My father told me it was commonplace for people to listen to the German propaganda just to find out about loved ones as that was always the final bit of the broadcast.

His war came to an end when a USA jeep turned up at his POW camp (the German soldiers had melted away) and said you're free and the allied lines are 20 miles away.

He went back to work in the electricity industry, married, one child and lived until he was about 80. He lived and loved life to the full. Frequently he would make the pilgramage to Runnymede to remember his friends. To me, he was fun and entertaining - a decent bloke. 

My father wanted to follow Alan into the RAF into Bomber Command but Alan persauded him not to as the attrition rates were too high. Just as well as I would probably not exist today. My dad ended up in the Royal Navy for the last year of the war serving on a variery of ships (HMS Victorious, Tiger, Eurylas) as a radar operator with the rank of CPO though he never saw a shot fired in anger. He said he did see 1 plane take off from HMS Victorious but never saw any land. The plane flew to shore by the way. He ended up in Australia on one trip where he visited the RAAF chap's family. I can't recall whether it was the RAAF flyer on the doomed Halifax or the previous captain who I believe was also Australian. My dad said they treated him like a king.

Alan'story has always fascinated me. I keep planning to go to Elvington in Yorkshire where you can go inside an old halifax (for a fee) to get a feel for what those airmen went through. One day.

Information about aircraft who did not return from this mission can be found here. Information about the other crew members on this flight can be found at this website (Aircrew Remembered). This website also provides the flight information for this record.

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