During the evening of Sunday, 1st June 1941 the pilot of this 41 Squadron aircraft took off from Catterick airfield to undertake a non-operational flight. Low cloud presented a problem with visibility and the aeroplane appears to have not been flying high enough when it flew toward the Osmotherley area. At 21.20hrs the aeroplane flew into high ground above Thimbleby Hall and seriously injured the pilot. The aeroplane was heard to crash but it took some time before police and local farmers located it. The pilot was pulled from the wreckage and carried down to Thimbleby Hall on his parachute, he was then transferred to Catterick Military Hospital but sadly died of his injuries a few hours later at 18.20hrs on 2nd June 1941. I do not know exactly where this aircraft crashed and would welcome contact from local people to allow me to photograph the location.
Spitfire P8163 was built to contract B981687/39/CB/23(c) by Vickers Armstrongs Ltd at Castle Bromwich. It was delivered to the RAF in January 1941 and after acceptance it was issued to 41 Squadron at Catterick on an unknown date in early 1941. Following the crash at Thimbleby on 1st June 1941 the damage was assessed, a Cat.E2/FA damage assessment was recorded and the aeroplane was struck off charge.
Pilot - Sgt Eric Eugene Croker RNZAF (NZ.391826), aged 24, of Point Chevalier, Auckland, New Zealand. Buried Catterick Cemetery, Yorkshire.
The pilot and his headstone at Catterick Cemetery. Eric Croker was born on 1st January 1917 and was educated at Mt Albert Grammar and Thames High School. Before enlisting for RNZAF servive he was an electrician with the Auckland Harbour Board in New Zealand. He was accepted into the RNZAF Civil Reserve of Pilots in August 1938 and gained his "A" licence on 9th March 1939. He began training at 1 EFTS on 16th January 1940, followed by 1 FTS on 11th March 1940 and gained his pilot's badge on 7th May 1940. He was promoted to Sgt on 28th June the same year and left Rangitane for the UK soon after. He was sent to No.1 Depot on 27th August 1940 followed by a posting to 6 OTU on 10th September to train on Hurricanes. On 24th September 1940 he crashed Hurricane L1789 on landing at Sutton Bridge. He was then was posted to 111 Squadron on 28th October and carried out 14 operational flights with them, some of which were at the tail end of the Battle of Britain which qualified him to become one of "The Few". On 22nd October 1940 he was posted to 260 Squadron at Drem where carried out 23 operational flights. On 7th January 1941 he was the pilot of Hurricane V7133 when it ran into a ditch on the edge of Castletown airfield on landing and the aircraft was slightly damaged. He was posted to 41 Squadron at Catterick on 12th May 1941 to fly Spitfires, he completed four operational flights with this Unit before his accident on 1st June 1941. He never recovered consciousness and died in hospital the day after. He had flown a total of 41 operational flights with 235 hours flying to his name.