On 15th September 1942 this aircraft took off from Driffield at 09.55hrs with an experienced pilot and an air gunner undertaking gunnery training. The crew were carrying out a fighter affiliation and a gunnery exercise but towards the end of the exercise the pilot tried to lower the undercarriage with the assumption being made that they were nearing base and would have been going into land to conclude the training flight. The undercarriage failed to deploy properly and the pilot was aware of this, he elected to fly off again to try and free the undercarriage rather than risk a belly landing or landing on one main wheel. The aircraft then left the area of Driffield and headed north roughly towards the Scarborough area. The pilot attempted a series of violent manoeuvres in an attempt to shake the problem clear and make the landing gear come down and lock into place. The aircraft had by now flown over higher ground, while the south-eastern side of the North Yorkshire Moors is mainly cultivated farmland it also has numerous wooded hillsides around the locality. Whilst attempting to shake the undercarriage down he lost control and fearing a crash he ordered the air gunner to bale out, soon after the aircraft dived into the ground between Hackness and Suffield at 11.37hrs. The pilot was sadly killed in the resulting crash. The air gunner landed safely.
In April 2006 I was contacted by Ms Peta Stilgoe, who's father was the surviving air gunner on this flight. He made his escape through the top of the aircraft, which one presumes was actually through the turret. He did this by putting his backside on one side of the opening, his feet on the other and pushed himself free. He was able to deploy his parachute and landed in a cornfield in the locality. On landing, he was approached by a farmer brandishing a pitchfork and because he didn't recognise his Australian uniform he thought he was the enemy. The situation was not improved by the fact that he could not understand the farmer's broad country accent and the farmer could not understand his Aussie accent.
The only account or witness I have current discovered to this incident was via a second hand account from my wife's grandmother. She remembered a local lady, the late Mrs Stockill of Snainton, telling her that when she was a child and living in Hackness she recalled a plane flying very low, she and her friend hid under a bridge (the bridge/folly near Hackness church) fearing it was an enemy plane. Seconds later they heard an explosion as the aircraft crashed. Whilst I have yet to locate the actual crash site I would link this account with Defiant N3501. Also in 2006 I was fortunate to be put in contact with Mr Clifford Welburn, the former owner of Silpho Brow Farm, a farm located a couple of miles to the north east of Suffield. He recalled witnessing an airman parachute from an aircraft around this date and land in one of his fields close to Silpho Brow. The visiting milkman then give him a lift on his cart (probably) to Cloughton to contact the RAF. At present, this airman is thought to be the survivor of this Defiant though I have no direct evidence to prove this.
Defiant N3501 was built to contract 751867/38 by Boulton & Paul Ltd at Wolverhampton and was awaiting collection in February 1941. It was delivered to the RAF in April 1941 and after a period in MU storage it was issued to 1484 Flight on or around 14th November 1941 when the unit formed at Driffield. The unit was redesignated as No.1484 Target Towing & Gunnery Flight on 1st April 1942. It sustained Cat.A/FA damage in a minor accident on 7th April 1942 and was repaired on site and returned to service. In May 1942 the unit was then re-designated again, this time as 1484 (Bombing) Gunnery Flight. It was destroyed in the incident at Hackness, with Cat.E2/FA damage being recorded, on 15th September 1942. The aircraft had a total flying time of 122 hours from new.
Pilot - W/O Derek Frederick Paterson Jannings RNZAF (NZ.401387), aged 25, of Wellington, New Zealand. Buried Driffield Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Alec Charles Walters RAAF (405255), aged 24 at the time. Of Brisbane, Australia. Baled out, uninjured.
Derek Jannings was the eldest son of Mr and Mrs F.C. Jannings, he was born on 12th June 1917 in Wanganui, Wellington, New Zealand. He was educated at Durie Hill and Wanganui East Primary Schools and received his secondary education at Wanganui Technical College. On completion of his schooling he began working for the Department of Industrial and Scientific Research at Massey College working on the administrative side of the Dairy Research Institute. He fell in love with and later became engaged to Maida Ellen Cleaver as a young man. He enlisted for RNZAF service on 4th June 1940 and undertook initially training at home before he left his country in January 1941. Upon on arrival in the UK he completed his training and was posted to 40 Squadron. One operational flight he made with 40 Squadron featured in newspapers in England and New Zealand, whilst taking evasive action to avoid flak he ended up looping his Wellington three times. He would complete a Tour with 40 Squadron. Prior to posting to 1484 Target Towing Flight on 11th February 1942 he had served with 1483 Target Towing Flight. He served as a Staff Pilot to fly the target tug aircraft with trainee air gunners. On 26th May 1942 he was involved in a minor mishap at Middleton St.George, after ferrying a passenger there the tail wheel of the aircraft broke on landing. At his death he had a total of 539 flying hours to his name.
Maida and Derek before he left New Zealand.
I thank Mrs Leigh Buchanan for contacting me in August 2012, for the photograph of her father's brother and the additional information she was kind enough to provide this account. I also thank Mr Dick Tucker for contacting me in October 2013, his mother was Derek's fiancee. Both families had the group photograph shown below which shows a group of staff pilots at 1484 Flight at Driffield.
Left to right: Ross Hardie, Bill Hogg (and dog "Joe"), John Junker, F/Lt Wynyard Wright, Derek Jannings, Derek Lord.
Derek Lord was killed in the crash of Defiant L6981 on 13th August 1942 at Hutton Cranswick (detailed on this website).
Ross Hardie was probably the pilot of Marauder FB509 which crashed on 17th May 1944, he was killed and is buried in Catania, Sicily.
Alec Walters had already flown a Tour with 102 Squadron on Whitleys by the time this incident occurred. He undertook a number of flights whilst with 1484 Target Towing and Gunnery Flight and in the main they were in the Defiant type, but Whitleys were still being used at this time in the War as well by the unit. He was only attached to this training unit for a week and in the days leading up to the incident described above he carried out three flights on 13th September 1942 (all with pilot F/Sgt Hogg), and two on the 14th September (one with W/O Jannings and one with F/Sgt Junker). He was allowed one day off following this incident on 15th September 1942 and returned to flying on the 17th September with F/Sgt Hogg. On the 18th he flew in a Whitley with F/Sgt Barron, practicing using a cine-camera. After this flight he finished the course and had a total of 135 hours flying to his name, 53 being at night.
Following further training at 1663 Heavy Conversion Unit he was posted to 466 Squadron in 1944 for a Second Tour. Having received a commission he was later awarded the DFC for service with 466 Squadron, Gazetted on 16th December 1943, for "skill and fortitude in operations against the enemy". He was presented with his DFC at Buckingham Palace by King George VI on 9th May 1944. In total he completed two complete Tours and a further two operational flights; in all 52 operational flights and 38 of these operational flights were carried out at night. He survived the War and returned home to Australia. He later was to have five children before passing away in Brisbane, Australia in 1980. I would like to express my thanks to Peta Stilgoe for the contacting me and for the photograph and information she has kindly supplied to this account, without which this account would not be as complete.
