Claude Hart was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire in December 1922. He joined Grantham based Aveling Barford as an apprentice fitter, leaving to join the RAF in 1942. He began his training with the Royal Canadian Air Force in Goderich, Ontario in November 1942, flying Tiger Moths, moving onto Claresholme, Alberta, where he flew Ansons until 1943.

On his return to England, he spent time at various RAF stations including Fraserburgh, Lindholme and Helmswell. He was posted to Elsham Wolds on 27th May 1944 to join 576 Squadron, as a Pilot Officer on Lancaster aircraft. He and his crew completed 14 successful missions in ND589 (also known as Love Twice or Love Squared) before he was killed in action on the night of 12/23th July 1944 during a bombing raid on Revigny, France. The mission was one of three raids to Revigny in July 1944, forty-one Lancasters were lost in what appears to have been some degree of chaos and confusion.

Revigny was situated on the French railway line that ran to Strasbourg, this line was crossed, close to Revigny by a major North-South line. This meant that the area was strategically important to the Germans who used the lines for transportation of freight. The RAF raids were aimed at the Revigny railway junction and marshalling yards, however, weather conditions and German defence meant that the operation was carried out at great cost.

The raid was agreed at the Bomber Command Meeting 38 on July 8th 1944. A raid to Nantes was 'scrubbed' and the target changed to the marshalling yards at Revigny, Bomber Harris assuring Supreme HQ of a successful outcome.

Poor weather meant that the raid was cancelled four times before it finally went ahead on the fateful day Wednesday 12th July. In addition to 107 Lancasters that 1 Group was to provide for the Revigny raid, a further 114 Lancasters were assigned for a raid on the marshalling yards at Tours. The 1 Group raid was combined with a 5 Group attack on the Culmont and Chalindrey marshalling yards (approx 60miles south of Revigny).

Revigny was a night raid. Successful British diversion tactics drew German fighters North and it was almost 01:00 before the British bombers came under attack from Germans Bf110s. In response to the shift of British bombing targets from Germany to the 'transportation targets' in France, the Germans had already relocated their night-fighter units accordingly. This included an experienced unit based at St Dizier, a mere 15 miles from the Revigny target. Within a short time night fighters had been dispatched from St Dizier and other German fighters who had been pulled North turned back. 1 Group Lancasters were now close to Revigny and 5 Group to Culmont, however, not only were enemy fighters closing in, so also was the weather. Poor visibility and the failure of the H2S set of the Master Bomber, meant that following some 15 minutes of target searching, when his VHF radio also failed, it marked onset of disaster.

The main force crews were circling ahead at an assembly point illuminated for friend and foe alike by flares dropped by the Special Duties Flight and waiting for the command to commence bombing. Some of the crews heard a command to turn back and go home from the Deputy Master Bomber. The command was obeyed by some 50 of the crews, however, many of the crews either did not hear the command or were unconvinced by its Deputy MB source and went ahead and carried out their attack from all directions with very limited success. A second command to abort the mission was sent out at 02:00. A combination of crashes and planes shot down at the start of their homeward journey brought the total losses to nine Lancasters and 51 crew.

Pilot Officer Hart and his crew of ND859 were probably the  tenth and final loss of this fateful night, later found to be recorded on captured German documents as crashing at 02:00.

It appears that ND859 had strayed south of track, originally attributed as due to navigational error. However, the surviving rear gunner has now been contacted and given a detailed account of the events leading to the crash. ND859 had been attacked by a JU88 and was off course due to the evasive action taken and the damage sustained from the attack.

Peter Keeler describes the final moments thus;

'As I recall it everything went relatively well until we got near the target where a big cloud formation sat over the whole target area down to about 2000ft. The whole bunch of Lancs were circling around loosing height over the target to try to get below the cloud. No word from the Master Bomber. During this descent we witnessed a collison of two Lancs which blew up over the target. We got under the clouds but still no word from the Master Bomber, a lot of angry chatter from different crews, then we heard the word to break off the attack which we did with our bombs on board still. We then flew directly over St Dizierand and I could see the JU88s taking off on the runway which was all lit up. Not long after this I saw one Lanc being shot down on our port side and astern. I was just talking to Joe about this when I saw a tracer coming our way and I shouted to Joe to corkscrew. I fired but we got hit up front and the starboard wing and intercom went U.S. I suppose the petrol tanks were badly on fire. At this point I went up to the mid upper turret to see if Cliff Glenny knew what happened. He had a job to get out of his turret, I said what about the blokes up front and he said they were done for we have to jump out the back'

There are also suggestions that ND859 was involved in a collison with another Lancater ­ LM638  (44 Squadron) which was engaged on the raid on Culmont. Further detailed research and study of altitudes and timings place a stricken ND859 down at 1,000 feet, while the collision of LM638 occurred  at  much higher 7-8,000 feet. It may be that the collision with LM638 was infact with another plane on the Culmont raid, LM221 (9 Squadron), as this crashed at the same time as ND859, a few kilometres away at Cour L’Eveque, killing all the crew. Their average age was 22. The exact course of events will never be known.

After Glenny & Keeler baled out, ND859 flew on, initially straight and level for a further 10km, finally crashing with a full bomb load in a wood about a mile from Giey Sue Aujon killing Pilot Officer Hart and the four crewmen in the front of the plane. Sgts Glenny and Keeler survived and for a short time evaded capture. A local school teacher, Max Duville, in a brave deed that cost him his life, gave the Germans false information about the crash to throw them off the scent of the survivors. The Germans returned the following day and shot Duville for his 'betrayal'.

The dead airmen were buried by the villagers in the village cemetery where their grave is maintained by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The two gunners, Sgt Glenny and Sgt Keeler were captured and imprisoned until the end of the war. Clifford Glenny died in 1999 in Durham, Canada. Peter Keeler is now enjoying retirement in Australia, following twenty five years he also spent in Canada.

Sergeant E Mitchell RAFVR

Sergeant C L Jones, RAFVR

Pilot Officer Hart continued or back to More Stories