On 22nd January 1941 this 220 Squadron Hudson was urgently needed at St.Eval, Cornwall where part of the squadron was on attachment from Thornaby where they were regularly based. The pilot stated that prior to taking off from Thornaby he reported to the operations room and was informed by Flying Control that the weather was unfit to fly receiving an order simply to await further instructions. The pilot then checked the weather report with the airfield Met. Office and was informed that should they take off the weather would be poor as far south as Northampton, with low cloud and rain effecting visibility. The pilot then stated when he then left the Flying Control office but met the Commanding Officer of the unit. The two men must then have had a discussion about the weather because the Commanding Officer then himself consulted with Flying Control and the Met. Office and then saw fit to authorise the flight. The pilot's statement went on to say that the Hudson's navigator plotted the course south (initially to presumably to avoid the North York Moors) and after ground checks the aircraft took off from Thornaby at 10.40hrs. The aircraft circled Thornaby airfield and set course which, given the poor weather, would have been to skirt the Cleveland Hills and to fly roughly south towards the Vale of York. The pilot stated they flew this course for around fifteen minutes all the time flying in cloud at around 700 feet above the ground. At that point he stated he said to the navigator that if they did not emerge from cloud soon he would turn around and return to base (this cannot be correct as we now know where the Hudson crashed and it must have been flying back towards Thornaby at that time). He stated that before the navigator could answer that he saw snow and heather around ten to twenty feet below the aircraft but then lost sight of the ground a short time later so attempted to climb the aircraft but saw a hill immediately ahead so attempted to turn to the right to avoid it but struck the ground at around 11.30hrs. As a result of the crash the pilot, Sgt Smith, broke either his leg or ankle and while he initially escaped the burning aircraft a fuel tank exploded and covered him in burning petrol. He was able to extinguish this by rolling in snow. The wireless operator, Sgt McHugh, was thrown out in the impact and after around five minutes unconscious he came round outside the aircraft. He too had burn injuries. By this stage the aircraft was well alight and no sign of the other two crew could be found. It later transpired both had been killed in the impact. The two survivors then made their way from the scene to find help. Both were badly burnt and Sgt Smith, with a broken ankle, followed the stream down to find help. The first house he came to was a small cottage just north of Osmotherley where he woke an elderly lady inside to summon help. Both were later taken to hospital at Northallerton.
The pilot would give a statement surrounding the events leading up to the eventual flying accident but some of the details later in the statement do not entirely tally with what must have happened but given he was probably still in shock when interviewed I can understand the descrepencies. The statement is held within Air81/4916 casualty file at the National Archives.
The navigator was deemed to blame for the accident occurring. It seems likely that after flying the initial course south and with no end to the poor visibility they decided to turn around to return to Thornaby, the navigator didn't then plot the course back to Thornaby and probably gave the pilot a direct baring to follow that took the aircraft over the high ground of the North York Moors.
Hudson T9371 was built by Lockheed-Vega at Burbank, California and purchased without contract by the British Purchasing Corporation and was shipped to the UK arriving on 15th August 1940. It was assembled by The Lockheed Assembly (Division) Ltd. at Speke. It then passed to 12 MU on 14th September 1940 and after assembly and testing it was issued to 220 Squadron at Thornaby on 18th September 1940. Following the crash near Osmotherley on 22nd January 1941 Cat.E2/FA damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge on 27th January 1941. The majority of the wreckage cleared from the site soon after by the RAF though there were fragments across the moor and in the stream up until the late 1990s, very little remains at the site today to mark the location. The area downstream from the crash site is a very popular picnic site in the summer months, there are rumours that after the war a group of young boys found some live .303 bullets at the site and after showing them off to too many people the police were informed and it resulted in what was left at the site being pretty much cleared away leaving the site as it is today.
Killed were :
Navigator / Second Pilot - Sgt Laurence Bertram Scase RAFVR (745674), aged 24. Buried Stoke-On-Trent Hartshill Cemetery, Staffordshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt William Parfitt RAFVR (626274), aged 23. Buried Stoke-On-Trent Longton Cemetery, Staffordshire.
Injured were:
Pilot - Sgt Clifford Smith RAFVR (741069). Sustained burn injuries. Admitted to Northallerton Hospital.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Thomas Joseph McHugh RAF (653675). Sustained burn injuries. Admitted to Northallerton Hospital.
Two photographs of William Parfitt as supplied by his nephew Mr David Thompson. While in the lower rank of Aircraftman he was partly responsible for the sighting of the German prison ship the "Altmark" at 12.52hrs on 16th February 1940. His 220 Squadron Hudson coded "V" was one of three aircraft which located the ship and eventually led to those imprisoned on her to be freed by the Royal Navy. His crew that day were: F/Lt Downton, F/O Thwaite, A/C Parfitt, LAC Wilson. They had been searching since dawn of the that day in misty conditions, the mist cleared by mid-day and the "Altmark" was spotted, the Hudson's made their approach, one of which dived low and the ship's name was clearly seen, the other aircraft shadowed the first aircraft. The Royal Navy having being alerted arrived at 14.00hrs, in the form of HMS Cossack who were able to free the prisoners on board the German ship.
Sgt McHugh was later promoted to F/Sgt, he was reported missing on 6th August 1941 flying in Hudson AM583 and was still serving with 220 Squadron. The aircraft in which he and three other airmen were flying was possibly shot down by Luftwaffe pilot Ltn Jakobi. The crew are listed on the Runnymede Memorial and F/Sgt McHugh was twenty years old. My thanks to Mr Brian McHugh who contacted me during my early research regarding his uncle and again in July 2013 to kindly supply the photograph of his uncle shown here.
Laurence Scase's grave, photograph found on "www.militaryimages.net". I am seeking a photograph of him should anyone be able to provide one please.
A poor photograph of Sgt Smith taken from a poor quality copy of the 220 Squadron photo taken 4th April 1939 that I have obtained. I would like to show a better photograph of him should anyone be able to provide one.
I first visited the site in March 2003 finding only a few small melted remains of alluminium near a stream, the photograph above was the area as it looked in 2003 and before I begun taking digital photographs.
This photograph shows the area the aircraft came to rest, taken in 2008.
Air historian Mr Ken Reast visited this site in May 1984 and the photograph shown on the left shows the remaining wreckage he found then. Pretty much everything shown on this photograph had gone by the time I visited the site some nineteen years later in 2003. The photograph on the right shows all the remaining wreckage photographed on a frosty morning in 2003. I would welcome contact from anyone who visited the site prior to 1984 and early photographs of this crash site.
The site and items on the surface in December 2014.
Part of the paint scheme of the aircraft can still be seen on this photograph below.
