On the night of 17th of December 1943 bad weather was covering the high ground of Yorkshire and part of the Vale of York.
The crew of this aircraft were returning from a raid on Berlin and they became lost in the poor visibility on returning to Yorkshire.
They, like others crews were diverted north from their base at East Moor and were ordered to land further north at Leeming where
conditions were probably better. Having set out from East Moor at 16.57hrs the
previous day, fuel by now was running low, they could not make Leeming so they baled when the aircraft ran too low on fuel.
They baled out safely and landed around the Danby Beacon area. The aircraft came down close to a peat bog to the north of Danby just
after midnight, in the early hours of the 17th December. The 2nd pilot was flying with this crew for operational experience. The
majority of the wreckage was removed in the days after the cras by 60 MU who had to use sleds to drag it off the moor
because of the conditions underfoot - it had crashed at the wrong side of peat bog.
This crash occured only afew hours after a Lancaster had crashed near Hawnby (listed previously on this website).
The night claimed many aircraft of their return to England due to the weather, one being at Yearsley near Easingwold, Yorkshire.
Lancaster DS832 was built to contract AC239 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd at Baginton and delivered to the RAF in September 1943. It was
issued to 432 Squadron based at East Moor in October 1943 when the unit converted from Wellingtons to the Lancaster B.II model. It was destroyed in the
incident detailed above, with Cat.E2/FB Burnt damage being recorded.
Pilot - F/O H B Hatfield RCAF (J/20156), uninjured.
2nd Pilot - F/Lt John A Allen RCAF (J/6643), of Black's Harbor, N.B. Canada. Uninjured.
F Eng - Sgt A Phillips RAF, uninjured.
Nav - F/O J Higgs RCAF, uninjured.
Bomb Aimer - F/O G J Smith RCAF, uninjured.
W Op - Sgt W H Poole RAF - injured with a broken arm.
Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt Robert A Hutchinson RAFVR (1533378), of Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. Uninjured.
Rear Gunner - F/Sgt Alexander M McGregor RCAF (J/19304), of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Uninjured.
This was one of the first crash sites I had attempted to locate many years ago, the first hunt which bore small results was in August 2002 after
I covered a wide area of the moorland finding only one fragment of metal. Some years later and some failed trips later I was now armed with fresh
information as to its exact crash location. This came from Mr Andy Hunter, without which I could have been still looking for the crash site.
John Skinn and I finally located the site in December 2004 and a large but shallow depression in the ground was clearly visable and a small
scattering of the usual style of wreckage present at the site. Many reports stating the site is "cleared" is not exactly correct, there are
still afew tiny peices at the site to be seen.
A number of small peices found at the impact site, located in December 2004.
John Allen (pictured above) was born on 28th December 1921 in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, his father was a doctor and his family moved to Toronto when
John was young. After attending school and college he worked as a junior clerk for the Empire Hanna Coal Company before enlisting into the RCAF soon after.
He was made Sgt on 9th August 1941 and was commissioned while training in Canada before arriving in the UK in August 1942 and almost certainly rose to F/O around that time.
He served with 107 Squadron in 1942 and early 1943 and rose to the rank of F/Lt on 28th August 1943 and married to Honor Mary Allen (who is recorded as being
of Paddington, London) prior to a posting to 432 Squadron. After the Danby Beacon incident he resumed operational flying but was sadly
killed over Germany on 3rd January 1944 with 432 Squadron in Lancaster DS739 on his 8th Op of his second Tour. He was still only
23 years old and is buried in Berlin War Cemetery.
Not alot is currently know about any of the crew. F/O Hatfield and crew were posted to 1679 HCU in October 1943 for conversion to
Lancasters. On 8th October 1943, F/O Hatfield had bombed Hannover in Wellington HE800. The Squadron then converted to Lancasters
and then on 26th November 1943 he and crew in Lancaster DS832 were accompanied by F/S Demaria as a second pilot, was Berlin as the target.
F/O Hatfield and crew bombed Berlin on 2nd December 1943 without incident and no second pilot this time.
I do not know that fate of the pilot F/O Hatfield after this Danby incident, it is thought that he survived the War and returned home.
Sgt Robert Hutchinson was still with 432 Squadron on 14th January 1944 when he was killed in Lancaster DS850. He was still only twenty years old
and is buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany.
F/Sgt Alexander McGregor was killed on 19th April 1944, again he was still serving with 432 Squadron and lost his life as a result of Halifax LW643 crashing in France.
He was twenty nine years old and is buried in Clichy Northern Cemetery, France.
It is probable that a F/Lt George J Smith RCAF (J/21564) who served with 405 Squadron (Pathfinders) was the same man as involved in the Danby Beacon incident.
F/Lt Smith was in Lancaster JA976 which was shot down by a night-fighter on 27/28th April 1944 and died afew days later on 1st May 1944. He is buried in Webbekom Churchyard,
Belgium. CWGC list no personal details for his parents. William Chorley's Bomber Command Losses book lists him as being a DFC holder however, Hugh Halliday's research into RCAF awards
has no such name listed so with graceful respect would suggest the losses book has an error.
It is also possible that a Sgt Alfred A Phillips RAFVR (1583796) who served with 626 Squadron in early 1944 is the same man as involved in the Danby Beacon incident.
On 15th February 1944 he was flying in Lancaster JB595 which was shot down by a Ju88 on Ops to Berlin. All the crew on this aircraft were captured, and at least three sustained
injuries. Sadly Sgt Phillips died in a German hospital on 15th May 1944. He was twenty one years old and from of Rugeley, Staffordshire. He is buried Berlin War Cemetery, Germany.
Two others also on this aircraft were repatriated in February 1945.
The identity of the navigator may well have been Joe Higgs RCAF of Toronto but this needs confirming.