Photos contributed with our thanks by L. Lamoure, nephew of Sgt. Lamoure
Sgt. Ricketts had completed his gunnery training at Number 4 B & G School in Fingal Ontario a small town North West of Port Stanley. He was assigned rear gunner on JB793 as part of a crew all of whom were to be on their first operation together. The night of May 29/30 on a mission to Wupperthal, their aircraft experienced problems with the intercom. An important communication device to help the aircraft if it came under attack from a night fighters. Sgt Winegarden , the pilot, had managed to use the intercom briefly during one of the units working periods to contact Sgt. Ricketts and gave orders for Ricketts to use the lamp system to communicate if the need to take evasive maneuvers arose. This Halifax also had the disadvantage of not having engine exhaust covers which would have concealed the orange glow coming from the four engines. Sometime after releasing her bomb load the Halifax was attacked by night fighters shooting up the port engine badly and resulting in the spread of fire along that wing. Within the aircraft some of the crew had been wounded. Most likely the two gunners Sgt. Ricketts and Sgt. Lamoure. The damage caused a lack of control and loss of height of the aircraft, Sgt Winegarden to called to abandon the ship. He himself decided to try to make an emergency landing since the wounded members of the crew were unable to take to their chutes. Three of the crew managed to bail out Sgt. Mingay the Navigator, P/O Hubbs the Bomb Aimer and Sgt Ward the WAG, all to become POWs later. Sgt. Earnest Hall did bail out at some later point in time and was killed in the attempt, possibly waiting too long to bail while helping Sgt. Winegarden to keep control of the JB793. No one knows for sure as most of the information on what happened was reported by P/O Hubbs after his return from captivity and he could only report on the events that he had witnessed up to his leaving the aircraft.. Tail Gunner Sgt. Roy Ricketts, Upper Gunner Sgt. Lawrence Lamoure and Pilot Sgt. Frank Ellsworth Winegarden were killed in the crash of JB793