The crew of this aircraft had only been posted to 419 Squadron on 8th May 1944, while at an operational squadron they had not flown operationally but were working up being operational at the time of this accident. This aircraft took off from Middleton St George airfield at 22.38hrs on 15th May 1944 so that the crew could undertake a night-time cross country training exercise. The precise route for the training flight has yet to be researched. By around 03.15hrs they were well on their way to returning to the base and made radio contact but no indication of there being any technical trouble was received so it is probably correct to assume that the aircraft was flying perfectly normal. It is worth noting that Met Office records for the period state that it was unseasonally cold around this date with an unusually cold night on 15th May 1944 that resulted in a frost in parts, and also strong to gale force winds occurred around the same date (but no indication of precisely where in both cases). The weather was certainly not ideal over North Yorkshire during the early hours of 16th May 1944, the accident records state that it was raining and the cloudbase down to around 1200 feet. The intended course to allow the aircraft to fly safely back to base appears to have been to fly north roughly up the Vale of York / Mowbray to avoid having to cross over high ground to the east but unfortunately the low cloud and poor visibility (and probable winds) resulted in the aircraft drifting off to the east and over the North York Moors. It was a normal instruction to fly above 3000 feet while flying in cloud over North Yorkshire to stay safely above the height of the highest hills but, almost certainly believing that they were much further west and over low ground the crew appear to have descended or deliberately lost height to below 1000 feet. This action resulted in numerous accidents with aircraft flying into high ground probably as a result of not even realising they were over high ground and losing height to try and drop below cloud to work out their position on the ground. This was almost certainly the case in respect of Lancaster KB701, they dropped down below the cloud base but at 03.40hrs the aircraft was over East Moors, north of Helmsley, when it flew into the ground. The aircraft crashed on Helmsley Moor near Potter House Farm and sadly all on board were killed.
The crash site was very close to a bombing range on Helmsley Moor which I (and others) previously assumed was where the aircraft's crew were undertaking a practice bombing exercise at the time of the crash and that the aircraft was simply flying too low on approach to the range when it flew into the moor. This I believe is not now correct having looked at the events again from all the available information. The 419 Squadron records state that the squadron were involved in only day time bombing practices on 15th May and specifically that KB701 crashed while the crew were undertaking a cross country flight.
Following the crash the complete mobile surgical team from RAF Hospital Northallerton with all their equipment drove over a rough moorland track to within two hundred yards of the scene but nothing could be done for any of the crew, sadly they had all died in the crash. Wombleton airfield also sent their ambulance and crash team. I would add some form of speculation into why the aircraft was as low as it was although there is no evidence for this in the available records, such events are always recorded as pilot error but if there was unseasonally localised cold weather what if the aircraft had began to ice up resulting in some control being lost and before any radio message was transmitted the aircraft had descended into high ground.
Lancaster KB701 was built to contract ACFT/1808 by Victory Aircraft in Montreal, Canada and was delivered to the UK in September 1943 being held in MU storage until issue to 419 Squadron in March 1944 when they converted from Halifax aircraft to Lancasters. It was first flown operationally on the night of 27th / 28th April 1944 in the care of P/O Patterson and crew. F/Sgt Speight and crew flew it operationally on the night of 9th / 10th May 1944 and again on 11th / 12th May 1944 and again by the same crew the following night. It was written off following the incident detailed above with Cat.E2/FA(Burnt) damage being recorded on 16th May 1944. Lancaster KB700, the KB701's sister aircraft, was the RCAF flagship aircraft and is shown at the top of this page coming out of the factory.
Pilot - P/O James Gordon McMaster RCAF (J/19923), aged 25, of Toronto, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/C/17).
Navigator - P/O Ernest Moir Parsons RCAF (J/92330), aged 23, of Marwayne, Alberta, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/C/15).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Gwilyn Teifi Jones RAFVR (1709001), aged 21, of Glanpwillafon, Cardigan, Wales. Buried Glynarthen Congregational Chapelyard, Wales.
Bomb Aimer - 2nd Lt Ernest Norman Fordham USAAF (0-886275), of Waukesha, Winsconsin, USA. Buried Madingley Cemetery, Cambridge (E/2/53).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Norman Frederick Alsop RCAF (R/143477), aged 20, originally of Darlington, Co Durham, late of Duncan, British Columbia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/C/13).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - WO2 Hubert Gordon Grice RCAF (R/153252), aged 20, of Thorburn, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/C/16).
Air Gunner - Sgt Frank Alexander Milne RCAF (R/199345), aged 21, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/C/14).
P/O James McMaster and his gravestone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. He was born on 2nd July 1918 in Philadelphia, USA and was the only child of Harry and Claire Elizabeth (nee Gordon) McMaster. His family moved to British Columbia when he was around five years old. His father was a mining engineer and died in 1940. James McMaster had attended Lakefield Prep School between 1930 and 1936 and then studied at Queen's University gaining a degree in mining engineering. He was working for the Sylvanite Gold Mining Company (based at Kirkland Lake, Ontario) when he enlisted for RCAF service on 24th December 1941 in Toronto. He was awarded his pilot's Wings on 5th February 1943 and with his basic trainng in Canada complete he was posted overseas. He arrived in England in March 1943 training at 18 (P)AFU beginning 20th July 1943, 24 OTU beginning 19th October 1943 and 1664 HCU in April 1944. He received a commission to the rank of P/O on 2nd February 1944. With his training complete he was then posted to 419 Squadron on 8th May 1944. At the time of James McMaster's death his mother lived at 145 Lascelles Blvd, Toronto.
Sgt Norman Alsop and his gravestone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. I occasionally played cricket at Spout House Cricket Club in Bilsdale and during the course of a game there in 2006 it was being discussed by locals that the sister of one of the crew had visited the area in August 2005 to try and find out about her brother and where he lost his life, it transpired that this was probably a relation of Norman Alsop's. Researching this account into Norman's short life it has become apparent that his life must have been very difficult. Norman Alsop was born in Darlington, Durham on 30th November 1923 and was the son of Edwin and Eva Eleanor (nee Spence) Alsop. Norman Alsop (then aged 11) had been sent from the UK to Canada on 29th September 1935 along with his two brothers, James (aged 8) and Benjamin (aged 6). Searching the English birth index his parents also gave birth to Violet in 1925 but whom died as an infant and Victor in 1930 who also died as an infant. A document in his service file states it was the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children who were responsible for him being sent to Canada. The brothers sailed on the "Duchess of Atholl" and then attended the Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School, Cowichan Station, British Columbia. The Fairbridge Farm School of Canada was set up by the Child Emigration Society of Great Britain in 1935, Norman and his brothers were three of the first children to make the crossing of the Atlantic to the school arriving in September 1935. In total 329 children were sent from the UK between 1935 and 1948. After leaving school he got a job undertaking dairy farm work prior to enlisting but listed his address as still being at the school so was probably working on the school farm. He enlisted in the RCAF in Vancouver on 10th December 1941. When he enlisted he stated that he did not know the names of his parents. In all probability he probably wanted to serve in the RCAF to enable him to serve overseas and in all probability return to his native England. Looking at his service papers he appears to have initially gone down the groundcrew training route but then re-mustered to aircrew after a short period of time possibly in late 1942. After basic training in Canada he was awarded his Air Gunner's badge on 3rd September 1943 and left for England. He would have probably met James McMaster and joined their newly formed crew at 24 OTU in October 1943 and then they trained as a crew at 1664 HCU in April 1944 before posting to 419 Squadron on 8th May 1944. As can be seen above, his CWGC gravestone shows the date of his death as being 15th May 1944, I would strongly suggest that this is an error and it should read 16th May 1944.
Frank Milne and his grave in Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. Frank was born on 19th December 1922 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was the son of George Jamieson and Bertha Jane (nee Booth) Parson. He was working as a stockman for F.W.Woolworth in Toronto when he enlisted for RCAF service there on 30th October 1942. After basic training in Canada he was awarded his Air Gunner's badge on 3rd September 1943, he then left Canada for service overseas soon after and sailed to the UK from New York in October 1943. On arrival in the UK he continued his training, receiving postings to 18 OTU, 82 OTU, Dalton Battle School and 1664 HCU over the coming months before posting to 419 Squadron on 8th May 1944. The photograph of Frank Milne shown above was found on Dan Logan's superb website, found here.
Hubert Grice, his grave and a couple of photographs found on the internet of the Thorburn War Memorial in Canada, Hubert Grice's listing is shown on the photo to the right. He was born on 28th May 1923 to Hubert Edwin and Margaret Jane (nee McKay) Grice, in New Glasgow, Pictou County, Nova Scotia. His father was born in Birmingham, England while his mother was born in Nova Scotia. He attended school in Durham, Nova Scotia and after leaving school worked on his father's farm at Alma, Nova Scotia. He was a steelworker at nearby Trenton Steelworks but still living in New Glasgow when he enlisted for RCAF service on 27th April 1942 in Halifax. He married Mary Irene Gillivray, of Thorburn, Nova Scotia and his wife gave birth to a baby boy on Christmas Day in December 1942. After completing basic training in Canada he was awarded his Wireless Operator / Air Gunner's Badge on 22nd March 1943. He left Canada in September 1943 for the UK and had trained at 24 OTU and 1664 HCU before posting to 419 Squadron with the rest of James McMaster's crew on 8th May 1944.
Ernest Fordham was the eldest child of Frederick and Grace Fordham and was born in early 1922. His father was Canadian and his mother was American and both were working as teachers at the Bible School in Waukesha City, Wisconsin in the 1930 US Census. They were living in the same place in the 1940 census. Little else is known about him other than He entered into RCAF service after crossing the border from Wisconsin, USA in 1940. Many of his countrymen transferred to the USAAF later in the war having arrived in the UK but I am not sure why he remained in an RCAF squadron - it could be because his father was Canadian.
Ernest Parson's and his grave in Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. He was born on 28th December 1921 in Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada and was the son of Richard Harold and Marion Isabelle (nee Young) Parsons. He and his family lived in Pincher Creek for six years before they moved to Marwayne, Alberta, after leaving high school in 1935 he started working as a clerk at a drug store in Marwayne but at the same time was also studying at Edmonton technical College. He was working as a clerk for the Beaver Lumber Company in Marwayne when he enlisted into the RCAF in Edmonton on 23rd June 1941 for ground duties and initially trained and served as an airframe mechanic. He then re-mustered as aircrew in October 1942 and trained as a navigator, after this basic training he was awarded his Navigator's Badge (possibly) on 25th June 1943. He left for service overseas soon after and on arrival in the UK in July 1943 he was posted to train at 6 (O)AFU, 24 OTU, Dalton Battle School and 1664 HCU before posting to 419 Squadron on 8th May 1944. He appears to have received a commission after his death, backdated to 15th May 1944. His father had sadly died after he left for the UK and by the time the CWGC compiled their records after the war his mother was living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
A general view of where this Lancaster crashed, photo taken around 1950 from the top of Clark Bank and before pine trees were planted in the area (photo G W Allenby, via my father C A Allenby).
I located the crash site in February 2003 somewhat by chance.
An electrical connector photographed in Ken Ward's collection in 2010 which he allowed a photograph to be taken.
There is not much left at the crash site today and most of what does remain is in poor condition, as shown by this small fragment found in a pool of water at the site in 2015.
Some kind of filter.
My father and my late grandmother recall a large piece of metal aircraft fuselage used to lay at the entrance to Pie Thorn Farm on the Bransdale road, It was dragged there in the late 1940s and was left for many years. During my family's grocery delivering business in Helmsley they used to leave items in the fuselage for the farmer to collect in the 1950s. The wreckage remained there for many years after they had finished trading but was gone by the mid-1980s. I assume that the fuselage came from this Lancaster crash. Unfortunately I have not located any photographs of this wreckage.
The Lancaster flew into the hillside looking directly through the sculpture. It has been suggested that this scupture, created by Austin Morris in 1977, was made from the melted down remains of an aircraft and was placed in this exact place to deliberately look onto the moor where the Lancaster came down. At the time of it's erection my grandmother was one of many who opposed it. I recall her telling me that its purpose was not of a memorial but to "frame the beauty of the moor" by looking through the sculpture. In the early 1990's thieves cut off half the alluminium sculture and probably sold it for scrap. In 2004 the same thing happened to the remaining half and the final chapter to its history was the removal of the concrete base in 2006.