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Sunday, 17 November 2013

Halifax DK116


Halifax DK116

The code letters of the aircaft can be seen stamped into this valve
 On the 15th October 1944 whilst flying out of RAF Sandtoft near Scunthorpe on a cross country navigation exercise an engine of this Handley Page Halifax  caught fire .
The crew were instructed to bail out by the pilot , unfortunately only 3 of them managed to get out before the aircraft plunged into Glendhu Hill at Kielder .


There is much speculation that those who remained on board were trying to free the rear gunner who it is alleged was trapped .

This though seems just one possible explanation of many . It could equally be that the pilot thought everyone had bailed and decided it was time for himself to attempt to bail the aircraft could have gone into a dive as he left the controls resulting in centrafugal forces preventing any of the remainding crew from escaping ...it is unlikely that the absolute truth will ever be known . 


The men who died in the crash were

 P/O Herbert George Haddrell   Pilot
 Sgt John Neilson   Flt.Eng
 W/O Maurice Fredrick James   A/G
 W/O Geoffrey Symonds  A/G

those who successfully bailed out were
 Sgt John Mahony Nav
Sgt Reid  W/Op
and Sgt Hammond A/G

 Visiting the crash site, situated with Kielder forest , involves  a very  long walk and/or  some atrocious terrain to cross if taking the shortest route .  Its probaly the reason that so much wreckage still remains at the site .
Here is a very short video that I took at the site
 http://youtu.be/1xjqi76j030
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8 comments:

  1. matt zx18 November 2013 at 13:23

    One I have always wanted to visit and great pictures by the way !

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  2. Pasujoba18 November 2013 at 18:32

    Thanks Matt , its a bit of a slog to get there .... the terrain is atrocious over Glendhu hill and through the plantation ! It was like the Somme without the barbed wire and bullets!

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  3. Al18 November 2013 at 20:11

    Well worth the slog mate, those spruce plantations are not friendly!

    Both the Halifaxes in my village are from Sandtoft, one of them, a night cross country 5 days before this one (LL501). Sandtoft was given the nickname of "Prangtoft" by the boys that served there, seem to think they lost about 70 aircraft in the year that 1667 were based there.

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  4. Pasujoba18 November 2013 at 21:00

    Thanks Al , shame you were busy this weekend ....it is a terrific site ....I reckon best way to visit would be to park in visitor centre and cycle as far as poss through the plantation roads then hide the bikes and ferret throught he forest from nearest plantation road . Would be ok if I had a bike :-)
    We should have a hunt for those Halifaxes sometime !
    This site felt really sad somehow ....doesnt usually bother me ,that sort of thing ,but this one gave me the shivers . Odd.

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  5. Ian18 November 2013 at 23:21

    Hi mate, this is a cracking set of photos. Like Matt, it has been a place I have wanted to visit for a long time. Will get some photos up soon. Horrible walk though, ugly landscape until we got to the wreck site and more difficult underfoot than anything I have known. Toughest 13 miles I have covered in a long while.

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  6. Pasujoba19 November 2013 at 19:38

    Thanks Ian , 13 miles eh .....if you had said 23 miles i would have believed you :-) It felt like i had been walking forever ....
    I hope the loggers leave the crash location well alone ....they look like mature trees all around it , probaly ready for logging .....that will destroy the sites integrity completely .

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  7. Border Rambler1 April 2017 at 21:31

    Hoping to visit the crash site on monday , will see if any tree harvesting around the area has occurred and hopefully post some pics of the site . Hoping they have shown some respect.

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  8. Border Rambler7 April 2017 at 19:30

    Made the visit to the Halifax crash site on Monday , I parked at Cuddys Hall (Kershope side) then biked up to Glendhu opposite the forest where the wreck is (about 6 miles). I then stashed the bike before tackling the fell across to Marvens Cleugh (1 mile) this was the hardest part of the route due to the terrain .
    I found the crash site and was surprised that no tree harvesting has taken place in any of this part of the forest, but I would imagine it can't be far off and lets hope they are careful around the site..
    I paid my respects and took plenty of photos before hitting the trail again .
    It probably took me 50 mins from the car park up to Glendhu then about 25 mins to reach the crash site on foot , same back again but then it was downhill all the way back to the car.
    I would say this is the quickest way to reach the crash site but keep it to yourselves lol

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