A Hampden similar to the one that crashed on Westerdale Moor.
This Hampden came down on the 16th of November 1941 on Westerdale Moor after returning early
from a mine laying operation in the Frisians due to icing. It was one of five Hampdens tasked and had taken off at 20.32hrs.
This aircraft drifted off course and probably crossed the English coastline much further north than planned. It flew into a hilltop
at 02.00 hrs less than a minute after a successful descent to locate its position. There is a report that the navigator had literally just
worked out their position moments before the crash but had had no time to warn the pilot about the high ground they were flying towards.
The area where they may have flown over for their position to have been calculated could have been the Tees Estuary or the
coastline near Whitby. The location where the aircraft came down is not 100% certain but it is thought to have been on Westerdale Moor and more precisely Stoney Ridge.
One of the crew was killed, three suffered injuries and two of these
were able to get their own way off the moor for help. They arrived at Hawthorn House some time later and were made comfortable and awaited
rescue. The remains of the aircraft were probably taken down to the remains of the Rosedale railway and carted away via Blakey or Ingleby Incline.
W R Chorley quotes the location, in his Bomber Command Losses book, as on "Guisborough Moor, four miles south-east of Middlesbrough"; this distance cannot be correct.
The RAF's AM1180 Crash Card simply
states "Guisborough" as the crash location which is again not entirely correct. Later books quote Westerdale Moor as the crash
location, where as the wireless operators death
certificate states it occured "west of Stoney Ridge". The "Westerdale" Moor location is probably correct though being
the moor above Westerdale rather than the actual location on the map which is some way distant. I have searched a wide
area of moorland in search of this crash site and to date have found nothing in the Stoney Ridge area. One puzzling addition is that I managed to
speak to a local farmer who's father saw the crashed aircraft from outside his
farm house in Baysdale. Had the Hampden crashed on Stoney Ridge then there is pretty much no chance of him spotting it as it is
some three miles off. Although I am not keen on speculating on such things
there is a chance that the plane came down alot closer to Baysdale.
Hampden P1152 was built to contract 773239/38 by Handley Page Ltd at Radlett and delivered to the RAF in July 1939. After acceptance it was
issued to 44 Squadron at Waddington on an as yet unspecified date. It was later transferred to 50 Squadron at Swinderby sometime after July 1941.
It sustained Cat.E2/FB damage in the incident on 16th November 1941.
Pilot - Sgt William J Young RAFVR (778478), aged c22, of Fort Jameson, Northern Rhodesia. Injured.
Nav - Sgt Donald M Symes RAFVR (1175877), aged c19, of Newton Abbott, Devon. Injured.
W Op/AG - Sgt Alexander R Bernard RAFVR (1004002), aged c21, of Kelty, Scotland. Injured.
W Op/AG - Sgt Ronald St C Neale RAFVR (1375564), aged 27, of Lambeth, London. Buried Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.
Sgt Kneale's grave at Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.
Whilst the crash location has yet to be found, or even a rough area for the crash fully determined, this photo possibly
shows the location: to the west of Stoney Ridge on Westerdale Moor. John Skinn and myself have searched for small remains but have yet to find anything.
A Hampden with Sgt D Symes on board went missing on 12th February 1942, his body was never found. He is commemorated on the
Runnymede Memorial. He was nineteen years old and was still with 50 Squadron.
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Sgt Young cannot have been seriously injured in the crash detailed above as he was sadly killed less than a month later
on 15th December 1941 when Hampden AE380 crashed into the sea off Belgium. He is buried at Oostende New Communal Cemetery after
his body was washed ashore. He was twenty two years old. His crew were never found.
On 11th January 1942 Hampden AE250 with Sgt Bernard on board strayed off course when returning to base at Skellingthorpe, the pilot
tried to make an emergancy landing near Carlisle but all on board died when the aircraft crashed. Sgt Bernard is buried at Beath
in Fifeshire, he was twenty one years old.