Hudson N7298 on Warren Moor, Kildale.

Not the same Hudson which was to crash near Kildale but one of the same unit and carrying the code QX-Q, the Kildale aircraft carried the code QX-O.

The winter of 1940-41 was a very severe winter in the North of England. This Hudson took off from Leuchars, Scotland at 01.17hrs and flew in an Easterly direction out to sea. The precise details of the flight are not fully known as the RAF's crash card for the incident refers to the operation as being a "special task". The crew were believed to have flown fifty miles out into the North Sea from Leuchars, then south following the coast for fifty miles looking for small vessels trying to cut the minefields. During the flight the wireless equipment and direction finding equipment failed and the crew flew too far south. At the time of the accident they were flying blind in poor visibility which was shrouding the North Yorkshire Moors as they flew in from the sea presumably to make a landing at Thornaby. The aircraft struck the top of an area of high ground on Warren Moor, above Kildale, on the night of 11th January 1941. All four of the crew survived the crash and although injured they managed to scramble clear of the plane but before they could be rescued all sadly died of their injuries and exposure before being found at 16.30hrs on 12th January 1941. Their bodies were found under a wing of the Hudson huddled together and covered in snow. Local recollection recounts that the owners of nearby Park Farm thought that they heard voices on that night but as the weather was so bad they did not venture out to investigate. I have been contacted by a gentleman, a Mr Bell, whos father was farm manager at Baysdale Abbey, he recalls his father telling him of seeing something odd on the moor the next morning which was noticed whilst he was tending to sheep in the valley bottom. Upon exploring it became clear that it was an aircraft on the moor but covered in snow. He recalls his father being one of the first to the crash site or him visiting it soon after and that a good clean up job was done by the RAF in the weeks after the accident.

Hudson N7298 was built to contract 791587/38 by Lockheed-Vega at Burbank, California and shipped to the UK, arriving in August 1939 it was delivered from Liverpool Docks to the British Re-Assembly Division of Lockheed Ltd. at Speke, Liverpool. After assembly and testing at M.U. it was issued to 224 Squadron at Leuchars in October 1939. It had an uneventful life until it suffered the above incident, being written off with Cat.E2/FA damage recorded on 11th January 1941.

Pilot - Sgt Keith Barnet Files RAF (523740), aged 27, of Torquay, Devon. Buried Worsley Churchyard, Lancashire.

Pilot/Navigator - P/O Basil Lincoln (Peter) Fox RAF (42496), aged 26, of Strathfield, New South Wales, Australia. Buried Brancaster Cemetery, Norfolk.

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt William Robert Martin RAF (520434), aged 25, of Netherfield, Nottinghamshire. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire (now Cleveland).

Air Gunner - P/O John McDonald Scott Wylie RAF (43698), aged 21, of Edinburgh. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire (now Cleveland).

P/O Fox and his gravestone. His CWGC headstone gives the impression his nickname was "Poopdeck". He was granted a short service commission in the RAF on 19th August 1939 and was graded as Acting P/O on probation and placed on the active service list for six years. He was then made P/O on probation on 4th February 1940 and confirmed as P/O on 26th June 1940 (he was no longer on probation).

Sgt Martin and his gravestone. He was the husband of Mrs Dorothy May Martin.

Jack Wylie's gravestone at Thornaby Cemetery. He had joined the RAF at the very bottom, as an LAC on 2nd June 1940 he was granted a Short Service commission and took the rank of P/O on Probation. I thank his nephew Mr Jack Ponton for the photograph of his uncle and the additional information he has kindly been able to provide this account.

Warren Moor is the area shown above the fields behind the mining chimney.

Mr John Skinn and I located the site in December 2004 having visited the area of the crash many times searching for any sign of where the Hudson came down. Having contacted other researchers, all had only found the odd peice of this aircraft on the moor over the years and all in a wide search area. The main leads to help tracking down where at least part of the aircraft passed through during the crash came from Howard Newbould and Jim Corbett, both had found tiny peices in a similar area. John and I searched the same area and found the remains of a .303 bullet and a tiny corroded fragment of alluminium. This does not mean we have located the exact crash site but at least we know the area where it occured. A tracable scar on the moortop is also presumed to have been created during the crash of this aircraft.

My thanks to Mr Bell of Swainby for his memories of this crash. His father worked at Baysdale Abbey during part of the War and witnessed the aircraft being on the hillside.
Ross McNeill's superb book "RAF Coastal Command Losses book 1939-41" lists this aircraft as crashing in KildaRe, (Ireland), but as the AM Form 1180 also gives "Kildare" as crash location, this is probably the source of the error.