Hubert Stanley Taylor
Hubert Stanley Taylor
Hubert Stanley Taylor was born in Poole, in the June quarter of 1921. His mother’s maiden name was registered as Long.
On the 19th of June, he is registered in the 1921 census, living with his parents, Gerald & Winifred Mary Taylor and his brother Gerald (aged 8) at “Furgen Hill, Bolum Sea Road, Ensbury Park, Kinson, Bournemouth”. His father was a Gas & Water Engineer, for the Bournemouth Gas & Water Co.
In 1939, he was 18 years old, a Clerk in the Gas Company, living at 133 Columbia Road, Ensbury Park, with his father Gerald, a gas and water fitter and his mother, Winifred.
He became a Sergeant and bomb aimer in the Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve, number 1334645 and aged 22 was killed on the 5th of May, 1943. He was buried on the 10th of May, at St Marks, Talbot Village.
www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk “On the night of 4th / 5th May 1943 this crew were flying Halifax JD105 on an operational flight to bomb Dortmund when the aircraft crashed into Hood Hill, near Thirsk on the return to Yorkshire. Sadly Cox, Taylor, Way and Ward were killed while Geddes, Dunbar and Hart sustained injuries.”
“On the night of 4th / 5th May 1943 the crew of 10 Squadron Halifax JD105 undertook an operational flight to bomb Dortmund and had set out from their base of Melbourne airfield at 22.33hrs. This raid on Dortmund saw 596 Allied aircraft attack the city but was not a complete success due to decoy fires attracting many of the bombs to be dropped in open country, the Allied Path Finding aircraft had also not accurately marked the target area but despite this severe damage was still reported to the city. This was the largest non-thousand bomber raid of the War to-date and the first attack on Dortmund. On board Halifax JD105 for this flight was a trainee pilot who was flying with the 10 Squadron crew for operational experience before he and his own crew joined an operational squadron, he was training with 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit at the time. The crew of JD105 released their bomb load over the red / green target markers from 17,500 feet at 01.05hrs, they reported that the weather over the target area was good and also that heavy and accurate flak was encountered. The aircraft was not damaged by flak and made for home but after leaving the target area the navigator complained that he was feeling ill so the captain reduced the height at which the aircraft was flying to try and help the navigator. His oxygen system may not have been operating as it should. On their return to England this aircraft received an order to divert to Leeming airfield because of poor weather over Melbourne and those in the area east of York. This aircraft appears to have been the only 10 Squadron aircraft to be diverted away from Melbourne to land possibly because it took them the longest to return to Yorkshire. It was nearly an hour behind the other aircraft by the time it arrived over Yorkshire and most other 10 Squadron aircraft had landed by 04.00hrs. At 04.43hrs and while flying through fog towards Leeming the aircraft clipped the top Hood Hill near Kilburn on 5th May 1943. The aircraft then bellied in, ran along the ground for about 150 yards and broke up. The engines and cockpit area travelled a distance down the hillside, with one engine ending up in a field at the bottom of the hill and with fires breaking out across the crash site. Five of the crew of eight were killed in the crash and three survived”
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Hubert Stanley Taylor RAFVR (1334645), aged 22, of Winton, Bournemouth, Dorset. Buried Talbot Village Churchyard, Dorset.