FOR some, Friday the 13th is an unlucky day; one best forgotten. But wartime RAF crews delighted in black humour and after 158 Squadron, based at RAF Lissett in East Yorkshire, lost seven successive Halifax bombers bearing the registration letter F, it christened number eight Friday the 13th, hoping an unlucky name might bring about a reversal of fortune.
Indeed it did, LV907, F for Freddy, went on to fly 128 successful operational sorties, more than any other Halifax, and became known as the unbeaten warrior. In name, it still is. The original Friday the 13th may have been unceremoniously scrapped after the war, but after a huge project at the Yorkshire Air Museum to produce the country’s only intact Halifax Bomber, trustees decided there could be only one name for it.
Tomorrow marks the 70th anniversary of LV907’s most remarkable narrow escape. Despite Bomber Command losing 100 aircraft that night, the lucky plane still made it home.
If only more RAF bombers had been blessed with Friday the 13th’s good fortune.
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