Leonard Joseph Barnard, of Brooklyn, New York, was killed in the Stirling Bomber crash at Cliffe in Kent. The Stirling bomber W7628 OJ-B was commanded by Flight Sergeant (Pilot), 22 year old Adolph Siwak, of Angusville, Manitoba, Canada. The aircraft took off from R.A.F. Lakenheath, Suffolk at 18:36 hours on 23 October 1942 on a bombing mission to Genoa, Italy.

112 Lancasters of 5 Group and the Pathfinders were dispatched in a mixed bomber force to re-commence the campaign against Italy, which was timed to coincide with the opening of the British Eighth Army offensive at El Alamein, Egypt. It was a perfectly clear moonlit night and the Pathfinder marking was described as being both prompt and accurate. The bombing by this comparatively small force of aircraft, carrying only 180 tons of bombs, could hardly have been carried out under more ideal conditions.

A number of aircraft were lost on this raid but none reportedly due to enemy action. Some crashed on landing, other losses were due to mechanical failure, and others were low or completely out of fuel. On the return leg of the mission, the Stirling ran out of fuel and crashed at 0300 hours into a row of four cottages and a farmhouse at Rye Street, Cliffe-at-Hoo, on the Hoo Peninsular five miles north of Rochester, Kent, killing the seven crew of the bomber.

Another reason put forward for the crash was that a searchlight crew half a mile away had been unable to make radio contact with the plane, and they illuminated the houses for the pilot to see as there were open fields all around. The pilot appears to have thought they were showing him a way down and flew down the beam. Certainly, it was reported that it appeared to be in some trouble as it made several circuits. The aircraft ended up in the field opposite.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com