Flight Lieutenant Max Bacon and his aircrew from RAF 518 Squadron
Photograph of Flight Lieutenant Max Bacon and his aircrew from RAF 518 Squadron.
Courtesy of Mr Mike Hughes
Flight Lieutenant Arthur ‘Max’ Bacon (4th left) and his aircrew from RAF 518 Squadron are pictured beside their Halifax which was lost on operations over the Atlantic in January 1945.
RAF 518 Squadron arrived on Tiree in September 1943 to fly weather reconnaissance missions in long-range Halifax aircraft. Twice a day flights ‘Bismuth’ and ‘Mercer’ left Tiree for a ten-hour-long trip out into the Atlantic at either 20,000 or 50 feet.
Pressure to fly was relentless and in 1944 518 Squadron flew every day but two. Often icing and waves 100 feet high made this dangerous. 518 Squadron lost twelve aircraft during their spell on Tiree. That night in January, Max and his crew disappeared without trace.
Black and white photograph of Flight Lieutenant Max Bacon and his aircrew during World War II.
Flight Lieutenant Max Bacon (4th left) and his aircrew from RAF 518 Squadron beside their Halifax which was lost on operations over the Atlantic on 21/1/1945. Far right: F/Sgt Tony Porazka (Met. Air Obs., Polish). (Photograph from Mike Hughes in Filing Cabinet 2 drawer 1)