Edward Platt was born on the 8th April 1914, the son of Edward Turner Platt, a tea merchant, and Emily Jane Platt (nee Horrocks) of Bury. He was oldest of two sons.

The 1921 Census shows the family resident at Chesham Road in Bury. By 1939 the family had moved to Ainsworth Road, Bury, and Edward was employed as a solicitor.

Edward enlisted in the RAF and received his commission to the rank of probationary Pilot Officer (General Duties Branch – Navigators) on 3rd March 1943 (gazetted 9th April 1943).

The Operational record Book (ORB) of 78 Squadron, Bomber Command, indicates that Edward joined the squadron at Breighton Airfield, Yorkshire on the 30th June 1943. He flew his first mission on the 13th July as navigator in the crew of Flt Sgt George Bell RNZAF in Halifax II BB373/EY-K. This was a 6 hour mission to Aachen. Further missions followed to Montbeliard, Hamburg and Essen in July and Nurnberg, Milan, Peenemunde and Leverkusen in August.

On the night of the 23rd August 1943 Edward was again the navigator on BB373 which took off from Breighton at 20:12 hours, detailed to bomb Berlin.

On return from the mission Flt Sgt Bell, along with Flying Officer Keirl piloting Halifax JB874 of the same squadron, were instructed to divert to RAF Leconfield near Beverley due to poor weather at Breighton.

The accident record card for the aircraft states that “Leconfield, unable to deal with these aircraft, diverted them to Hutton Cranswick and the aircraft collided shortly afterwards and crashed”. Both aircraft fell at 04:30 hours on the 24th August at Hull Bridge, Tickton, 2 miles north east of Beverley, Yorkshire. All eight of the crew of BB373, including Edward, were killed and 6 lost their lives in JB874.

The crew of BB373 were:

Flt Sgt G Bell, RNZAF, Captain (Pilot);

P/O R Gilbert RAF (2nd Pilot), 

Sgt A E Lester RAF (Flight Engineer),

P/O Platt, RAF (Navigator),

Sgt W L Clarke, RAF (Air Bomber),

Sgt A Lee, RAF (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner),

Flt Sgt D C M Walton, RAAF (Mid Upper Gunner); and

Sgt R B Fletcher RAF (Rear Gunner).

Edward’s aircraft was one of 28 assigned to the Berlin raid on the 23rd August by 78 Squadron, of which two were lost over that city, whilst another crashed in the North Sea. From the five aircraft lost from the unit, only three crew members survived.

A total of 727 aircraft of Bomber Command participated in the raid of which 56 were lost (7.9%) - the greatest loss in a single raid to that point in the war.

Edward is commemorated by a family memorial at Bury Cemetery, Redvales. Edward is also commemorated on Phase 2/Panel 226 of the Bomber Command Memorial at the International Bomber Command Centre at Canwick near Lincoln.

Of the other crew members, the two commonwealth airmen are interred at Harrogate whilst the remainder are commemorated at other locations around the UK, Sergeant Lee just a few miles from Edward at Agecroft Cemetery in Salford.

There is a memorial plaque to the crews of both aircraft involved in the collision near the crash site at Hull Bridge.