My dad was a pilot of one based in Thorpe Abbott, East Anglia. We lost him on his 18th mission. Freak accident on climbout, not combat-related. Batch of flares stored in the cockpit went off, and the acrid black smoke filled the airplane. Everyone got out OK except my dad and his co-pilot, who stayed with the plane to steer it away from people on the ground. Crashed into the Somerleyton Estate. Buried later in Cambridge Cemetery.
Never knew him. I was born five months later. But what a guy he was.
Michael
Sounds like a true hero. So many deaths outside of combat. What a waste.