This 106 Squadron Hampden took off from Coningsby airfield at 18.10hrs on 26th October 1941 to undertake an operational flight, this was one of 115 aircraft tasked with bombing shipyards in Hamburg area at two aiming points. Returning crews later reported that good bombing was possible in the moonlight but this Hampden appears to have flown off track on the return leg and came in over the Yorkshire coast somewhere between Scarborough and Whitby. The aircraft broke up or exploded in mid-air at around 01.00hrs on 27th October 1941 over the eastern side of the North Yorkshire Moors and wreckage fell to the ground at a steep angle where upon it caught fire. The location of exactly where this occurred is still not known when this webpage was last updated. There are mixed reports which quote differing locations. With the incident being a mid-air break-up is it possible that all the locations are correct. I have located three war time map references from period documents which plot in a line from the Bickley area to Staindale. All are now on land now covered in trees as part of the wider Dalby Forest. The reason for the aircraft exploding in the air does not ever seem to have been established. Sadly all four crew were killed in this incident.
Pilot - Sgt Edward Boucher Smith RAFVR (778398), aged 22, of Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. Buried Coningsby Cemetery, Lincolnshire.
Pilot - P/O David Roy Bowden RAFVR (68167), aged 19, of Torquay, Devon. Buried Torquay Cemetery, Devon.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Oliver Halward RAFVR (936240), aged 19, of Watford. Buried Watford North Cemetery, Hertfordshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt Darrel Barry Stables DFM RAF (526438), aged 24, of Moulton, Northamptonshire. Buried Brigg Cemetery, Lincolnshire.
The 106 Squadron record book lists on 28th October 1941 that Hampden AE426 was flown from Coningsby to Middleton St.George and left a P/O Ward there when it returned to base later in the day. It could well be that he was required to attend an investigation or Court of Inquiry possible held there as one was held but I have yet to work out how to obtain a copy.
I have yet to locate the crash site or sites and would welcome any information The locations I have come across in my research all suggest it came to the ground in an area between Bickley and Staindale, north-west of Pickering. The crew's deaths were registered as having occurred in the Pickering Rural District area. The 106 Squadron operation record AM541, and the RAF accident records AM1180 and AM765c state it was in the area of the "Whitby to Scarborough road"; neither death registration or these squadron records really agree with each other. The AM765c does then give a map reference that plots to being in Staindale which is many miles from the Scarborough to Whitby road, it also states that the position of the engines in the ground suggested it crashed at a steep angle (this also gives a clue that the engines were still located to the fuselage which probably is an indication that the fuselage with the occupants and the engines crashed in the Staindale area). A police record transcript gives a more detailed location of Staindale and could be more accurate. The 106 Squadron squadron record AM540 gives a location of "near Pickering" which would kind of agree with it being on land more accessable from Pickering rather than nearer the Whitby to Scarborough road. Clearly flying at a speed over 100mph and exploding at a height of a few thousand feet above the ground then not all the aircraft would come down in the same place and create a "crash site" as is generally expected. In this case parts probably fell over a wider area than normal. A war time era map references that plots to being over towards Cross Cliff Wood and also one on Yondhead Rigg have also been found. When plotted on a map they form a very noticable straight line. Maybe this is an indiction that the aircraft began to break up over Cross Cliff Wood, perhaps loosing the tail, and continuing to crash in the Staindale area where the bulk of the fuselage landed.
In way of offering an explation of why the "Scarborough to Whitby road" is quoted in the RAF records I think what might of happened is that the initial RAF personnel to arrive at the crash site came from Driffield airfield. To get to the Staindale area back then was not easy. I would guess they would drive from Driffield to Scarborough and then towards Pickering, turning north at Thornton Dale towards Whitby. Maybe someone logged that they drove from Scarborough and then towards Whitby so this became shortened to be the Scarborough to Whitby road. There appears to have been access down into what is now Low Dalby village on what is now the main Forestry Commission forest drive toll road, there was also a good access road from the Fox and Rabbit Inn to High Dalby and then on the forerunner of the forest drive in Staindale. Access from the Hackness end of Dalby was a far harder task. There would be access up from Ebberston but whether there was clearer access down to Staindale I've not been able to find out yet.
In the weeks leading up to the crash Hampden AD785 was used on 10th October 1941 for an engine air frame test after "40xxx" and then flown on a night
flying test later the same evening before being used on Ops that night to attack the Krupps factory in Essen. On 12th October 1941 it was given an air test
in the evening prior to being used on Ops to bomb a rubber factory at Huls. During the afternoon of 13th October 1941 it was flown to Waddington and back
to Coningsby but the reason for this short flight is not recorded in the squadron ORB. Later that night it was flown on Ops to Cologne. On the morning of
16th October 1941 it was flown for a brief Lorenz test flight and in the afternoon it was flown to Grantham and back to Coningsby. On 17th October
it was given an air test in the afternoon possibly in preparation for Ops that night but which were later cancelled. On 18th October it was used in
the morning for a local flying exercise and on the 19th for a practice bombing exercise. On 20th it was test flown prior to being flown operationally
to Bremen that evening. On 23rd it was test flown prior to Ops to Kiel that night. On 26th it was test flown in the afternoon prior to being used on
Ops that night but crashed on the return. This record proves that the aircraft was in constant squadron use and does not appear to have undergone any
technical trouble before the date it crashed.
Edward Smith's gravestone at Coningsby Cemetery, David Bowden's grave in Torquay Cemetery and Darrel Stables' in Brigg Cemetery.
David Bowden received a commission to the rank of P/O on 29th May 1941. No further details are known about him. My thanks
to Mr Rob Pearson for kindly supplying the photograph of his gravestone for inclusion on this webpage.
Darrel Stables was born in Barnburgh, Doncaster on 5th October 1917. He married in 1940 in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire and his wife lived in Brigg though she later lived in Moulton, Northamptonshire. The then Corporal Stables was awarded the DFM in July 1940 when he was serving with 61 Squadron. No citation has yet been located for this award other than "for gallantry and devotion to duty in the execution of air operations." He is commemorated on a War Memorial in Brigg (above) and also one inside Barnburgh Church, South Yorkshire. He flew with 106 Squadron on 10th October 1941 for a night flying exercise and on 13th October an airtest prior to an operational mine laying flight that night. On 20th October he flew an airtest prior to Ops to Bremen that night (crewed with Sgt Halward) and then on 23rd October 1941 another airtest prior to flying Ops to Kiel (crewed with Sgt Halward again).
As a result of not knowing really where to being looking for the location of where the main part of this aircraft came down I have not yet located the crash site. The location given in police records which, if correct, puts the site to be on a steep hillside as shown in the photograph above. However even attempting a search within this undergrowth was very hard and needless to say, I found nothing. I have drawn a blank on locating the crash site. Should anyone reading this be able to assist me in this quest I would very much appreciate contact from you.
Hampden AD785 was built to contract B67577/40 by English Electric Co.Ltd. at Samlesbury and was allotted to 44 MU on 1st January 1941. It was received by 44 MU on 29th January 1941 and after MU acceptance it was issued to 106 Squadron at Coningsby on 20th May 1941. Their operational record books were hand written and the National Archives have made a very poor job of scanning them to create their pdf files. Reading them is difficult. Hampden AD785 appears to have been first used operationally by 106 Squadron from June 1941 until early August 1941. On 7th August 1941 it sustained minor Cat.Ac/FB damage in a flying accident which was repaired on site and then returned to 106 Squadron a few weeks later. The aircraft was then possibly once operationally in September 1941 before regular use in October 1941. It sustained Cat.E2/FB Burnt damage as a result of the accident on 27th October 1941. The aircarft was struck off charge on 30th October 1941.
All four airmen don't appear to have been serving with 106 Squadron for long. Reading the squadron records Sgt Smith flew a handful
of times in the week leading up to his death; on 17th October 1941 he flew an airtest, on 19th he and P/O Bowden flew a bombing practice and
later an airtest, on 22nd he undertook beam flying training and on 23rd and 26th October 1941 he test flew Hampdens. He appears to have
undertaken two operational flights prior to the one in which he lost his life; the first on 20th October 1941 to Bremen (crewed with Bowden)
and landed at Feltwell on return, and the second operational flight on 23rd October 1941 to Kiel (also crewed with Bowden). These flights
appear to have been the only other times Sgt Smith and P/O Bowden flew with 106 Squadron together. On 26th October 1941 Sgt Smith test flew another Hampden prior to setting out for the operational flight to Hamburg in AD785.
