Saturday, 25 May 2013

Short Stirling EE975



On the night 14/15th August 1944 ,whilst on a training flight this Sterling bomber developed engine trouble in two of the four engines . Always an underpowered type of aircraft the Stirling began to lose altitude. The Pilot realising they would not be able to make it to an airfield told the crew to bale out . He and the navigator who stayed with him bravely kept the aircraft on an even keel whilst the crew escaped . The navigator eventually baled out to, but unfortunately he did so too low for his parachute to open fully and died only a few hundred metres from the crash site . The aircraft crashed through a wall and came to rest on a limestone pavement which is effectively the top of a cliff at the bottom of which is the small village of Arncliffe.
The Pilot was also killed .
The crew were
P/O Donald McFarlane Bowe RAAF Pilot
F/Sgt Robert J. Douglas RAAF Nav.
who were killed and the survivors were
F/Sgt Cornelius P. O'Neill RAAF B/A
F/Sgt George I. Maloney RAAF W/O
Sgt I.K.Frazer RAF Flt.Eng.
Sgt F.G. Nelson RAF Flt.Eng.
Sgt C M Davis RAF A/G
At the site today can be seen two small wreckage pools , the wall which was rebuilt , and the scarring to the limestone pavement with small pieces wreckage still being wedged deep in the fissures of rock.
Sgt C M Davis RAF A/G

1 comment:

  1. I have a holiday caravan at Littondale and recently got told about the Short Stirling crash at Old Cote Moor..Strangely at work on night shift in Barnoldswick on the 14 of August 2019 i had a look at some articles on the crash and realised that at the very time the crash occurred and the time i started looking at some of the details happened to be to the hour precisely 75 five years ago. Have now looked up The Pilot Donald McFarlane Bowe and the equally unlucky Robert James Douglas who unfortunately hit the hill whilst exiting the Bomber and hope to visit as soon as i can at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery..I also intend to visit the crash site with my wife to pay Homage to these young Australian Men so far from Home..

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