Photos contributed with our thanks by L. Lamoure, nephew of Sgt. Lamoure
Sgt. Winegarden had just completed two operations as 2nd Pilot one on the night before on Halifax JD159 to Essen and prior on BB373 on an operation on Dortmund. This was additional training that most pilots had to experince before going on an operation as Captain of an aircraft. These operations proved to be successful and uneventful. There are reports that he had also managed to bring in a damaged aircraft with no injuries to the crew. Sgt. Winegarden had experince on his side. The following night, May 29/30 with a new crew together on their first mission to Wupperthal, their aircraft JB793 experinced problems with the intercom. An important commication device to help the aircraft when it came under attack from a German night fighter. Which is what happened sometime after releasing her bomb load. This Halifax also had the disadvantage of not having engine exhaust covers which would have concealed the orange glow coming from the four engines. The attack shot up the port engine badly and spread fire along that wing. Within the aircraft some of the crew were wounded. The lack of full control of the aircraft caused a loss in height. Sgt Winegarden called for the crew to abandon the ship. He himself decided to try to make an emergency landing since some 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 related only up to the time of the first bail outs. Sgt. Frank Ellsworth Winegarden was killed in the crash of JB793. Along With Tail Gunner Sgt. Roy Ricketts and Upper gunner Sgt. Lawerence Lamoure