HE865

Wellington Mk X HE865 of No. 17 Operational Training Unit took off from RAF Silverstone for a night cross-country exercise. With visibility deteriorating the crew were told not to land back at base; while searching for an alternative airfield in southern England the aircraft struck trees on high ground (about 700 ft) near Bayardo Farm at Milton, west of the Pewsey–Marlborough road and close to the former Overton Heath landing ground in Wiltshire, at around 03:30. Five of the six crew were killed and one injured. Sgt Goddard, of Portloe in Cornwall, was buried at Upavon; the other men who died were taken home by their families.