Taken off on 1 June at 22:59 from Finningley airfield for a bombing mission to Essen Germany. This aircraft was part of a group of 1000 bombers. On the way back the aircraft was attacked around 01:30 above North Limburg by a night fighter of the 3./NGJ.1 taken off from Venlo flown by Oberleutnant Jacob Bender.

The aircraft was damaged to such an extent that the crew was ordered to abandon the aircraft. With the exception of George Thomson Reid, who was killed, everyone was able to bring themselves to safety with their parachutes. The aircraft itself went into a glide and eventually crashed at the Baron van Brakelstraat 3 in Nederasselt. It is no longer possible to determine exactly where the five landed. It is believed to have been somewhere near Kleve, Germany. John Albert Nugent and Richard James Anmandale Johnstone found each other again after landing and set off towards the west, as far away from Germany as possible. On June 7, after 5 days of walking, which only happened at night to avoid detection, they arrived unseen in Balgoij where they were found in an orchard by Hendrikus M. (Harrie) Theunissen from Balgoij. He hid the two in a chicken coop and provided them with food. Teacher Gerrit Willems was called in because he spoke English.

He had a conversation with the two RAF crew members. Theunissen and Gerrit Willems could do little for Johnstone and Nugent because in 1942 not much was known about the illegality. The two RAF men no longer had a map and since Gerrit Willems and Harrie Theunissen could not help them any further, they decided to continue towards Rotterdam. Gerrit gave both men a route description as best he could and warned them to avoid major roads and bridges. However, it was arranged for both men to be ferried across by boat by Hent Stevens, after which they both set off, following the Maas. On 9 June 1942, both men were found by Grada van Zummeren in an orchard on the Harense Steeg in Berghem.

Grada’s daughter, Joke, spoke English and spoke to both men. In the meantime, a friend, Bertus den Brok, collected two overalls. After Nugent and Johnstone had given their parents’ addresses, they left Grada’s house and set off again. Nugent was arrested after ten days in Maassluis on 17 June 1942 and Johnstone on 22 June near Rotterdam. This means that both men either lost each other on the way or that Johnstone was able to escape during Nugent’s arrest and held out for five more days. We will probably never be able to determine the exact course of events.

In 1960, Johnstone, who was living in Rhodesia at the time, contacted Grada and Joke and in 1961 he visited them together with his wife and children. Whether he was also in Balgoij with Harrie and his wife Mieneke is not known. In April 1952 the plane was dug up and the body of George Thomson Reid was recovered. Reid is buried in Nijmegen at the war cemetery Jonkerbos plot 19 grave 7