On the night of 15th / 16th November 1941 this aircraft was one of five Hampdens from 50 Squadron with the crews tasked with flying operational sorties. Two of the crews were tasked with bombing Emden while the remaining three were detailed to lay mines in the Nectarine area of which P1152 was one and this particular aircraft took off from Swinderby, Lincolnshire at 20.32hrs. The crew of this aircraft were unable to locate any of the planned dropping areas owing to thick cloud but whether they jettisoned the mines in the North Sea or they returned to England with them is not yet clear. The flight was made at 1,500 feet above sea level owing to icing conditions on the flying surfaces. On their return to the East Coast of England they appear to have drifted too far north, becoming lost. They appear to have crossed the English coastline much further north than planned, probably coming inland around the area of the River Tees. At 02.00hrs the aircraft flew into a hill top on the North York Moors less than a minute after the crew had began a successful descent to locate their 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 location where the aircraft came down I am not 100% certain on but it is thought to have been on Westerdale Moor and more precisely Stoney Ridge. One of the crew was killed in the crash and three suffered injuries. Of those injured, two were able to get their own way off the moor and seek help. They arrived at Hawthorn House some time later and were made comfortable and awaited rescue. Knowing the area as well as I do my guess would be that the wreckage of the aircraft would probably have been taken down to the trackbed of the Rosedale railway and then carted away via Blakey or Ingleby Incline.
As stated the location of where the aircraft crash remains unconfirmed. William Chorley quotes the location, in his Bomber Command Losses book, as on "Guisborough Moor, four miles south-east of Middlesbrough"; this position and distance cannot be correct as this would put it many miles off the moorland area. The RAF's AM1180 Crash Card simply states "Guisborough" as the crash location which is again not entirely correct. Other modern books quote "Westerdale Moor" as the crash location, where as the wireless operator's death certificate states it occurred "west of Stoney Ridge, Baysdale Moor" which must be a more accurate location. The "Westerdale" Moor location is probably correct but 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 farmhouse 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 a lot closer to Baysdale and the term "Stoney Ridge" may have been incorrectly used. I would love to hear from anyone who can suggest a more detailed crash location for this aircraft to clear up the matter.
Pilot - Sgt William John Young RAFVR (778478). Injured.
Navigator - Sgt Donald McGregor Symes RAFVR (1175877). Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Alexander Russell Bernard RAFVR (1004002). Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Ronald St.Clair Neale RAFVR (1375564), aged 27. Buried Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.
Ronald Neale was the son of William Frank and Agnes Mary (nee Hunt) Neale and was born at Norwood, London on 30th June 1914. In the 1921 Census the family were living at Bromley, Kent. When the 1939 Register was compiled he was living in Islington with his mother and working as a road transport manager. He was a member of the de Laune Cycling Club in Kent before enlisting in the RAFVR. He married Matilda Caroline Hennis in 1941 in Islington, London. The first photograph was found on Ancestry.
William Young was the son of MacDonald and Mary Young and was either born at Fort Jameson, Northern Rhodesia or he and his parents emigrated there when he was young. He was born around 1919. He 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 50 Squadron Hampden AE380 crashed into the sea off Belgium. His body was recovered and he is buried at Ostend New Communal Cemetery. He was twenty two years old. His then crew were never found and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Thanks to Ade Harris for photographing his grave. He is also commemorated on a family gravestone at Troqueer New Burial Ground, Dumfries and Galloway.
Donald Symes was born on 30th May 1921 at Newton Abbot, Devon and was the son of Ernest Edmund and Ivy Norah (nee White) Symes. When the 1939 Register was compiled he was a student, boarding at Newton Abbot College. He was still serving with 50 Squadron and was on board Hampden AT177 on 12th February 1942 when the aircraft did not return from an operational flight. He has no known grave and he too is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. He was only nineteen years old.
Alexander Bernard was born on 17th January 1921 at Kelty, Fife and was the son of Robert and Elizabeth Haxton (nee Russell) Bernard. On the night of 10th / 11th January 1942 Sgt Bernard on board Hampden AE250 tasked with a mine laying flight, on the return to the UK the aircraft strayed off course on return to Skellingthorpe and they found themselved over the North-West of England. It was believed that the pilot was circling to try and find Crosby airfield although Crosby was not a completed airfield and had no landing lights. The aircraft lost height and crashed near Brampton. Research carried out by air historian Mr Gilbert Rothery in the 1980s found the first man on the scene, Mr Frank Easton, he stated that the aircraft first crashed onto Brampton cricket field, ran through a second field, across the Carlisle to Brampton road and into a field at the other side of the road and caught fire. Mr Easton and Mr Bill Armstrong, were first on the scene and located an airman inside the burning aircraft with his flying suit on fire. They pulled him clear and he was taken away to be treated but sadly died. They had initially believed him to have been the rear gunner. Since Mr Rothery's research much more information has been released by the RAF and MoD and in respect of this accident the rear gunner survived. I would therefore respectfully suggest that it was Sgt Bernard who must have been rescued from the burning aircraft as he was seriously injured and died the following day (12th January 1942). He is buried at Beath in Fifeshire and was twenty one years old. Mr Rothery suggests the aircraft had ran out of fuel. Looking at modern-day Brampton it would appear a by-pass has been created around the town and that the aircraft had crashed across Carlisle Road. A number of modern housing and business developments would appear to have been created over land likely to have been used as the cricket pitch nearer the town. I would welcome information from residents would are able to confirm or correct these assumptions on where the cricket field was in 1942.
Whilst I have yet to find the crash location, even a rough area for the crash fully determined, this photograph possibly shows the location: to the west of Stoney Ridge on Westerdale Moor. I have searched for small remains but have yet to find anything of the aircraft.
Hampden P1152 was built to contract 773239/38 by Handley Page Ltd at Radlett and was delivered to the RAF in June 1939. It was initially allotted to 6 MU on 16th June 1939 but this was then cancelled and it was allotted to 5 MU on 22nd June 1939. 5 MU received the aircraft on 29th June 1939 and it appears to have remained in MU store until it was sent to English Electric, Service Aircraft Section (S.A.S.) on 16th July 1941. It then passed to 8 MU on 6th August 1941. It's AM Form 78 states that on 20th October 1941 it was taken on charge by 44 Squadron at Waddington but also states that it was taken on charge by 50 Squadron at Swinderby on the same date. It was used by 50 Squadron operationally on the night of 31st October / 1st November 1941 and then on 8th / 9th November 1941 without incident. Following the crash on the North York Moors on 16th November 1941 Cat.E2/FB damage was the damage assessment and it was written off. It was then struck off charge on 22nd November 1941 once the paperwork caught up.