This aircraft took off from Middleton St George at 22.38hrs on 16th May 1944 for a night bombing practice. The aircraft went below the 1000 foot minimum briefed safety height whilst flying over East Moors, north of Helmsley whilst in cloud. It flew into high ground on Helmsley Moor near Potter House Farm at 03.40 hours in a slight nose down degree of flight. The crash site was very close to the bombing range on the moor top which I assume was where the aircraft's crew were practicing their bombing. I take it that this aircraft was simply flying too low on approach to the range and flew into the moor at a shallow angle, perhaps the crew had descended to try and locate the range because of the low cloud. The complete mobile surgical team from RAF Hospital Northallerton with all equipment drove over a rough moorland track to within 200 yds of the scene but nothing could be done for any of the crew, sadly they had all died in the crash.

Lancaster KB701 was built to contract ACFT/1808 by Victory Aircraft in Montreal, Canada and delivered to the UK in September 1943 and held in MU storage until being issued to 419 Squadron in March 1944 when they converted from Halifax aircraft to Lancasters. It was written off in 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. His father lived at 145 Lascelles Blvd, Toronto.

Nav - P/O Ernest M Parsons RCAF (J/92330), aged 23, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. Late of Marwayne, Alta.

F Eng - Sgt Gwilyn T Jones RAFVR (1709001), aged 21, of Glanpwillafon, Cardigan, Wales. Buried Glynarthen Congregational Chapelyard, Wales.

Bomb Aimer - 2nd Lt Ernest N Fordham USAAF (0-886275), of Waukesha, Winsconsin, USA. Buried Cambridge Madingley Cemetery, plot E, row 2, grave 53. He entered service from Wisconsin, USA to the RCAF in 1940.

WOp/AGr - Sgt Norman F Alsop RCAF (R/143477), aged 20, originally of Darlington, Co Durham, late of Duncan, British Columbia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.

WOp/AG - WO2 Hubert G Grice RCAF (R/153252), aged 20, of Thorburn, Picton County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. Married to Mary Irene Grice.

Air Gunner - Sgt Frank A Milne RCAF (R/199345), aged 21, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. His father lived at 976 Mt Pleasant Rd, Toronto.

P/O James McMaster and his gravestone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.

Sgt Norman Alsop and his gravestone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. I understand from locals in Bilsdale that the sister of Norman Alsop was, in August 2005, in the area trying to find out about her brother and where he lost his life. If she or her family read this I will gladly share what source information I have and if required I will show her where her brother's aircraft crashed. Eleven year old Norman Alsop had originally left the UK to go to Canada on the 29th of September 1935 along with his two brothers, James (aged 8) and Ronald (aged 6). They sailed on the Duchess of Athholl and attended Fairbridge Farm School, Cowichan Station, British Columbia. There is no record of their parents going on this journey so one assumes the depression in the UK had forced their father Edward, of Audrey Grove, Darlington to say good bye to his children as he could no longer care for them.

Grice's, Parson's and Milne's graves in Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.

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.

A general view of where this Lancaster crashed, photo taken around 1950 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. This peice of armour plate has since been removed from the site by persons unknown. In August 2003 John Skinn and myself did a more detailed search around the area a fair scattering of wreckage across the moor for about two hundred metres. The usual alloy, plexi and rubber tube was found. Since this visit I have been back a number of times and these peices also appear to have been either moved and hidden, or more likely sadly taken from the crash site.

My father and my late grandmother recall a large peice 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.

The Lancaster flew into the hillside looking directly through the sculpture. It has been suggested that this scupture, done 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 its 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 thiefs cut off half the alluminium sculture and 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. Now it is rather ironic that it was my grandmother who led a campain for this statue to not be erected where it was in 1977.