On the 5th of September 1943 the crew on this aircraft were undertaking at daylight training flight and encountered poor visibilty fifty-five minutes into the flight.
While flying over the North Yorkshire Moors at 16.03hrs the aircraft flew into the ground on Rudland Moor above Keysbeck, towards the lower end of Farndale. Sadly the crew
of eight on board were all killed with seven of their bodies being returned to their hometowns for burial across the UK. The flight had lasted for 55 minutes.
Wreckage was
spread over a large area which made recovery of it difficult at the time, although in the modern-day the nearest road is tarmac'ed it is not believed to have been done until
some years after the War, the nearest road at the time was some distance away and the wreckage had to be dragged away.
Halifax DG402 was built to contract ACFT/637/C4/C by Rootes Securities Ltd at Speke, Liverpool and delivered directly to 1663 HCU at Rufforth
in March 1943. It was destroyed in the incident detailed above with Cat E2/FA Burnt damage. The accident is mentioned in 3 O.R.B.'s but
with little details: Rufforth ORB states "Halifax DG402 crashed on Rudland Moor. All killed." Marston Moor ORB states
"Halifax from Rufforth crashed at Kirkbymoorside. 8 killed." and 60 MU ORB states "Halifax DG402. Cat. E2.
Salvaged from Middleham Moor, near Kirkbymoorside. Aircraft scattered over 3 1/2 miles, nearest loading point 1 1/2
miles." The quoted location of "Middleham Moor" is not to be determined!
Instructor Pilot - F/O Jeffery S Thomas RAFVR (126001), aged 22, of ? Buried Crick, Northants.
Pilot - Sgt Arthur C Dickinson RAFVR (1576380), aged 21, of Mansfield, buried Nottingham Road Cemetery, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
Nav - Sgt Ronald W Woods RAFVR (1337005), aged 20, of Manor Park, buried Ilford's Barkingside Cemetery, Essex.
Air Bomber - F/Sgt Robert M Todd RCAF (R/145403), aged 21, of Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada. Buried Carluke, Wilton Cemetery, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
F Eng - Sgt Frank Johnson RAFVR (1219540), aged 22, of Preston, Lancs, buried Preston New Hall Lane Cemetery, Lancashire.
W Op / Air Gunner - Sgt Albert W Salt RAFVR (1316986), aged 21, of Witney, buried Witney Burial Ground, Oxfordshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Edward J Hitchcox RAF(AAF) (843241), aged 32, of Sutton, Surrey. Buried Sutton and Cheam Cemetery, Surrey.
Air Gunner - Sgt Wallace J R Blakeley RCAF (R/180851), aged 20, of Almonte, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
F/O Thomas's headstone at Crick, Northants (thanks to Mr John Skinn for this photograph), F/O Thomas had 443 hours experience on piloting Halifax's, he was married to Elizabeth Thomas,
of Newcastle-on-Tyne. He was also a B.Sc. graduate of Birmingham University. He was commissioned on 13th June 1942 as P/O on probation and later rose to F/O on 13th December 1942.
Also shown are Sgt Dickinson's gravestone (thanks to Mr Tony Glover for this photograph)
and Sgt Blakeley's gravestone.
F/Sgt Robert Todd's grave at Carluke Cemetery, south-east of Glasgow. He is buried with his grandparents and his burial location took some finding because of this.
In 2009 I was lucky enough to be contacted by Ted Hitchcox's sister-in-law Mrs Barbara Hitchcox, she was kind enough to be able to provide some background information on Ted.
He was one of five children and all five played their part in the War. Ted became a member of the Auxillery Air Force as far back as 1933 and he was a member of a Barrage Balloon unit
in the London area before the War. He was also married in 1933. Photographs of him and the crew named above do still exist but had not yet been released by the family and I respect
these wishes. The families of the crew also exchanged letters and photographs of their sons. A further photograph exists of him with another six men, possibly an earlier crew and the
family believe that although a tall man he had been a tail gunner for a period and had flown on Lancasters, possibly operationally. At the age of thirty two he could well have flown in
the earlier part of the war but his rank being Sergeant at his death would suggest that his operational flying was limited. Research is ongoing.
He was the mid upper gunner in Halifax DG402 when it was lost.
I first located the crash site on Rudland Moor in September 2002 having had a couple of failed attempts at trying to find the site due to inaccurate map references published at the
Yorkshire Air Museum. I revisited the site with John Skinn in March 2003 and carried out a wider search to determine the extent of existing wreckage and record its location and again on
the 60th anniversary of the crash to pay my respects. The photograph above shows what I believe to be a couple of marks made in the peat by rotating propellers as the aircraft crashed.
Above shows probably the most complete peice found to date, an air intake from the port outer engine. Below is an example of a Rootes manufacturing inspection stamp (the "R2" mark at the top left)
and Halifax part number (with the "57" prefix) proving the site.
