Handley Page Halifax BB310

Handley Page Halifax BB310

The view from the still visible impact crater amongst the scree . Small pieces of wreckage can still be seen deep amongst the rocks. The view indicates the probable line of flight of the aircraft prior to the crash .

The memorial just next to the impact point

On the 12th April 1944 Halifax BB310 crashed into Blea Crag on Great Dun Fell in the North Pennines . The crew were in their 8th hour of a training flight . They were flying out of RAF Longtown in Cumbria from 1674 HCU which provided crews for Coastal Command . Indeed BB310  had been a Coastal Command aircraft with 502 Squadron prior to being used for training purposes . It was built by LAPG  as a MkII Series 1 between November 1942 and January 1943 . It was a 'Special' which meant it was fitted with a Mk3 ASV radar and it could have had its armament uprated too to offset the change in the German submarines tactics of attempting to shoot attacking aircraft out of the sky instead of diving .
The aircraft exploded upon impacting the fell ,creating a still visible crater within the large scree rocks . The entire crew were killed , probaly instantly .
They were:

F/O Paul B. Stevens RCAF, pilot
F/O Sydney Brookes RAFVR, second pilot
Flt Sgt William ''Alan'' Johnson RAFVR DFM, wireless op / air gunner
Flt Sgt Frank Pess RCAF, wireless op / air gunner
Flt Sgt Harold S. Seabrook RCAF, wireless op / air gunner
Sgt Robert J. Littlefield RAFVR, flight engineer
Sgt William J.  Morrison RAFVR, navigator
Sgt Hugh Dunningham RAFVR, wireless op / air gunner
Sgt Dean W.  Swedberg RCAF, wireless op / air gunner

F/O Stevens whilst part of the Royal Canadian Air Force was  actually an American rather than  a Canadian .
Our visit this day was on the 70th anniversay of the crash . The weather was dreadful but cleared long enough whilst we were at the crash site for me to take a few pictures .

The plaque placed as a memorial in 1994

Paint still adorns this fragment

small fragments some showing signs of an intense fire

Bomber Command Memorial

Bomber Command Memorial 

 For years there was an omission in the commemorative  monuments in London . That was the lack of one for the over 55,000 souls who lost their lives whilst serving in Bomber Command .
The political issues  in glorious 20/20 hindsight of rights and wrongs should never have prevented a memorial being built  to the brave men who flew these missions.
The memorial funded by public donation was finally unveiled by the Queen on the 28th June 2012.
These pictures are from  my first and as yet only  visit to the memorial.
The statue stands within an open sided columned room that has a roof with an open centre section .
The statue made from bronze by Philip Jackson features 7 crewmen (proportionate to the usual number on a Lancaster ) standing on a plinth . They appear to have just returned from a bombing raid ...or more fancifully perhaps they are 7 crewmen already destined not to return .  You choose!
The details are superb , I cannot imagine that the sculpture would have been as good as this if it had been done postwar . At least the time delay as meant we now have possibly one of the best sculpture ever made of our fighting men .
The building made from Portland stone  housing the sculpture is not without nuance . The roof  structure represents the geodetic structure that made up the Wellington bombers airframe and to cap it all is actually manufactured from alloy taken from Halifax LW682 shot down over Belgium in 1944 . This aircraft was recovered from a bog in 1997 . Apparently 3 of the crewmen were still on board the aircraft when it was recovered . They are now interred in the area of Geraardsbergen near Flanders . 
I was mightily impressed by the whole edifice and the thought that went into it .

Handley Page Halifaxes LL178 & EB181

Handley Page Halifaxes LL178 and EB181

Kepwick Moor/Arden Great Moor  an area of the North Yorkshire Moors  with a number of Handley Page Halifax crashes within quite a close proximity . 
In the shot above can be seen a cross placed   to commemerate the loss of LL178 . 

Many experts have searched the area of the moor here and concluded that this is actually the crash site of EB181  . There is though no trace now on the surface . It is claimed that fragments of wreckage are combined at the real LL178 crash location . That may or may not be the case , whilst it is reletively close it is still far enough away to make it an imposition to move wreckge to that location . With a number of nearer old quarry workings closer by it would have made more sense to dump fragments in those .
 Anyway , This is a shot of a memorial to LL178 and is at the alleged  site of  the EB181 crash  .

In the distance can be seen the private woods of Arden Hall , another Halifax (JD174) carrying a bomb load crashed into those woods  . Aircraft crash enthusiasts are not welcome there due to some dubious behavior from over zealous wreckage collectors in the past . 

EB181 crashed in poor visibility from simply being not high enough , two crewmen initially survived the crash , one dying later from his injuries leaving a sole survivor .
The men who died were 


F/O Raymond H. Highsted     Pilot
Sgt John C. Mitchell       Navigator
Sgt Frederick J. Luckett    Bomb Aimer
F/Sgt John J. Timmins    Flt Engineer
Sgt James Nelson    Air Gunner
Sgt Herbert P. Durtnall Charlton    Air Gunner (died later of his injuries, 9.10.43) .

The man who survived 
 Sgt Charles F. West    Wirless Operator / Air Gunner


They were flying on a cross country exercise from RAF Croft . the aircraft hit the hill on the return leg to the airfield just after midnight at the start of a new day 28th September 1943.
The aircraft did not burn and must have remained largely intact or surely there would have been more fragments still in location on the moor .

Conversely , evidence of LL178's crash site is very obvious  .

Contents of a pit of collected wreckage

On the 18th March 1944 this aircraft flew on a 'Gardening' mission  over the North Sea towards the  archipelago of Heligoland .  On its return to RAF Croft the aircraft descended into the hill. They were literally moments from clearing the hill and would have been home and safe .That was not to be though , the impact was with great force evidenced by smashed castings and wrinkled panels still at the site today . 
The impact was also followed by a fire which must have destroyed much of the aircraft wreckage . 
All on board LL178 died . All of the crew were of the RCAF.
They were 

 

F/O David C. Evans	Pilot
P/O Douglas A. Thicke	2nd Pilot
P/O Geoffrey Hutt	Flt.Engineer
F/O Edson G. Armour	Navigator
P/O Donald E Jackson	Bomb Aimer
Sgt. Walter Cotton	Wireless Op. / Air Gunner
P/O .Joseph S. Sleigher	Air Gunner
P/O Robert E. Ballentine	Air Gunner

  
Pilot Officer Thicke was working upto his own aircraft and was on his second dicky flight . Had he survived he would probaly have been flying his own aircraft and crew on missions , perhaps even the following night . 
Gardening was the coloquelism refering to laying mines in the  German sealanes,   gardening because the RAF used vegetables as codewords for  sea areas !

Two areas of burnt ground containing wreckage can be seen at the LL178 crash site . 
In the picture to the left Al and Ian can be seen in the distance stood in the larger of the two areas .
A number of pieces of wreckage contain part numbers . 
and at least one has a manufacterers mark . 
The fuselage of the aircraft must have burnt in the larger burn area because on the surface can be seen many exploded bullet casings . Most .303 bullets of the era carry a date stamp on the base ....the ones I  looked at here were either dated 1942 , 1943 , 42 , 43 or   even a couple not dated at all ! Something I had not seen at a crash site before, no date on a bullet  . 
 A 1944 dated bullet would have confirmed that it came from LL178 not EB181 of course . 
There was no more luck with the Makers mark .... R2 , seen below faintly within a partial circle  on the left of shot  led me to a dead end as well .

  R2 refers to Rootes Motors (later Rootes Securities ) who built 1070 of the 6100+ Halifaxes built ......unfortunately EB181 was also built by the same company in an earlier batch of a hundred Halifaxes . LL178 itself  was built in a batch of 480 (not all mk V's) .
The B43 ....the B means its a part of the wing or flaps , the number is the part number itself,  odd (and 43 is odd) means port , so this is part of the port wing . 
The 57 prefix on the part number refers to this being a part for an  Halifax .  Handley Page coded their aircraft with H.P. followed by a number . The first Halifax post development was coded H.P. 57 , LL178 was a Mk.V , they were coded H.P.63 but the parts were largely  the same and thus they continued to be prefixed with a 57.  This is my understanding of how it worked ...if someone can make this complexity clearer to me please do so .

bullet casing dated 43

Ian and Al discussing the site

Some form of radio? still remains in fragmentary  condition at the site 

The stone plaque memorial made and placed by David Morris at the true location of the crash site . 

This site is a very interesting one and perhaps has some of the most comprehensive accounts available on the internet .   

The two stand out offerings are from Richard Allonby   http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/44/ll178.htm
and http://rcaf434squadron.squarespace.com/51-60/ where a mass of information can be found including pictures of the crew and P/O Evans  logbook . 
There is enough there to write a book about the crews experiences   , perhaps one of them should do so .

My own take is more of a  swift resume and hopefully will cover the main points along with a few musings from myself.

Handley Page Halifax LL505

Handley Page Halifax LL505

memorial cairn on the summit under a blanket of snow

the same on a warmer day

 On the 22nd october 1944 this aircraft flying out of RAF Topcliffe crashed into the summit of  Great Carrs in the English Lake District . The crew who were on a night navigation exercise were probaly descending under a cloud layer to try and get a navigation fix but we will most likely never know for certain for all were killed on impact with the mountain .
They were

F/O J.A. Johnston         Pilot    RCAF
F/O F.A. Bell                   Nav  RCAF
F/O R.N Whitley             BA   RCAF
Sgt W.B. Ferguson       Flt Eng.  RAFVR
Sgt H.E. Pyche              Flt Eng  RCAF
Sgt C.G. Whittingstall  WO/AG  RCAF
Sgt D.F.Titt                     AG    RCAF
Sgt G. Riddoch             AG      RCAF




After the crash the wreckage was broken up and thrown into the coombe below the summit . To this day quite a lot remains  there ,including a large wing section and an engine amongst other items scattered down the valley .

An engine from the aircraft can also be seen at the Ruskin Museum  in Coniston village at the foot of the mountain . Here is alink to a short video I made of the engine .
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pasujoba44/7337345824/in/set-72157622370101728/

Looking up the valley to the coombe containing the wreckage

Reduction gear , our route today was up the crags in this shot , it was an hairy scramble in the conditions

An engine in a stream

wing section

wing section

engine outside Ruskin Museum 

Halifax LW334

Halifax LW334

Lousy weather for the anniversary  visit

 On the 18th January 1944 , whilst on a cross country navigation training  flight from RAF Topcliffe , this aircraft crashed into the flanks of Black Hambleton hill near the small village of Osmotherly in  North Yorkshire .
Unfortunately the 6 man crew were all killed in the crash .







The crew who were all Canadians were

F/O Joseph  P.  Lavallee    Pilot
Sgt. Richard G. Kimball    Navigator
F/O Wilfred L. Boisvert     Flt. Engineer
F/O Walter Phillips             Bomb Aimer
W/O George E. Giff           W/Operator
Sgt. Guy H. Hivon             Air Gunner

One of the holes into which the wreckage was originally discarded

The visit this day was on the anniversary of the crash . This has been performed for many years (18 ,i think ) Rain, snow, hail or shine  since David  Thompson (2nd from the left in the last shot) first placed the memorial .
This day I joined them  for the first time .
The weather matched the conditions of the day of the crash . Wet with low visibility! 

The memorial with this days new wreath attached

A motley crew of like minded individuals

This shot gets even motlier as yours enters the scene

A few weeks later i revisited the site with my mates Ian and Al . The weather was much better and we had time to have a good look at the site . We came up with a few interesting surmises ...purely speculative of course but still !

There appears to be 4 areas of disturbed ground at what we would like to think is the impact site . These seem, on a rough  measure , to be spaced at the same intervals as the engines would be on a Halifax . The four 'pits' all contained water when we visited but all four have the downslope side edge at feet level and the upslope side edge above knee level . This seemed to us as representative of something heavy driving itself into the hillside . Small fragments of wreckage found within these 'pits' seem to be small bits of engine casing .

On top of that the right hand wing 'pits' seem a little deeper and better defined than the left hand , if this means that the aircraft hit at a slight angle, right wing down, it would have caused the aircraft to spin around slightly as it broke up on impact . Much glass and perspex some of which was very clearly from the nose of the Halifax is located off to the right uphill just a few metres before the memorial itself .  The claim for these pits was the location the wreckage was buried , this may well  still be the case but the crash scenario  could also be true as well . 
All pure speculation ,but it is a very emotive location and worthy of some thought .

Right hand inner if we were right ....and its a big IF :-)

the memorial on a sunny day

  

Halifax at Yorkshire Air Museum

 A visit to Yorkshire Air Museum  , a  right royal treat for my 5oth birthday  . These are shots of inside the Halifax there ....one of only two that exsist today . The shot above is of the pilot seat and controls .

looking toward the bomb aimers /front gun position

navigators table

rear turret

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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