File:Wreckage of Vickers Wellington B.III -BK309 JN-N- (42397998030).jpg

Operated by 150sqn based at RAF Snaith, Yorkshire. Lost on 23rd October 1942 while on a minelaying flight in Haugesund. The aircraft was hit by flak and severely damaged while low-level flying at night. The pilot, P/O Ken Rees, managed to ditch the burning aircraft in a small inland lake. Two of the crew were killed, while the rest became prisoners of war and were later held at Stalag Luft III. Ken Rees would become one of the diggers of the tunnel named ‘Harry’ during what is now known as ‘The Great Escape’. He would have been the next to escape, had the tunnel not been discovered. Following the release of the 1963 film “The Great Escape”, many compared Rees in personality and looks to Hilts, “the Cooler King”, played by Steve McQueen. Rees was amused by this. McQueen was, he would point out, a 6ft American – “and me a Welshman of about 4ft 3in who can’t ride a motorbike!” Together with other surviving crew, Rees returned to the crash site in 1964 when the remains of the tail gunner, Fl.Sgt Don Taylor, were recovered and buried with full military honours. The complete tail section and one Bristol Hercules III radial engine from BK309 are currently on display at the Flyhistorisk Museum, Sola, Norway.