On 7th January 1945 F/O Riley was to ferry Oxford HM794 from Faldingworth airfield to Montrose airfield where it was to be transferred to No.2 Flying Instructor School that was based there. Oxford HM794 had been in the care of No.1546 Beam Approach Training Flight (B.A.T.Flight) but this unit had run it's final course in the weeks prior to this date and their aircraft were being allotted to different units prior to the unit disbanding two days later. F/O Clarson and F/O Barkell followed in Oxford LW903 to allow F/O Riley to be returned to Faldingworth when the other Oxford was delivered, on paper it also acted as a navigation exercise for the pilots. After this flight all three men were to be allowed on leave. The flight north also allowed a passenger in F/O Riley's aircraft, LAC Gregory, to be dropped off at Middleton St.George airfield and both Oxfords landed there, probably also being re-fuelled for the rest of the flight north. Having dropped off the passenger they continued the flight. As they flew further north the weather became poor and because of the flying conditions both Oxfords landed at Kinnell airfield. At that time Kinnell was being used as a satellite airfield for No.2 F.I.S. using Montrose airfield so the unit there accepted the delivery of the Oxford. F/O Riley left RAF Kinnell as a passenger in Oxford LW903 to return south. Oxford LW903 than landed at RNAS Crail at 17.30hrs where the three airmen would stay the night and intend to complete the flight to Faldingworth the following day.

The weather forecast the following day was poor, heavy snow showers and cloud would have made the flight difficult. This would have also left a high probability of the aircraft being effected by icing conditions on the flying surfaces. The poor forecast probably resulted in the aircraft not leaving RNAS Crail until 12.35hrs that day. As captain of the aircraft F/O Clarson was initially refused permission to take off because of the poor conditions but eventually the Commanding Officer at Crail, Commander Mervyn Johnstone DSC, allowed the Oxford to take off. Clarson had put forward his experience of beam approach and instrument flying as reasons why the flight should be allowed. The route advised was to have been to fly south via Dunbar, then towards Newcastle, Darlington, then down the Vale of York, across to Doncaster and then to base of Faldingworth in Lincolnshire. This route would have kept the aircraft well clear of much of the high ground in Northern England which, given the time of year and the forecast, would have probably seen the worst of the weather. After setting out from RNAS Crail not much is known. The weather must certainly have become bad and the crew must have found themselves flying through snow or snow clouds. Looking at the plot of the route the crew were advised to fly and where the aircraft subsequently crashed the crash site falls pretty much on a direct line between Crail/Dunbar and Faldingworth. I offer the suggestion that the crew had realised the weather was poorer than then anticipated. Instead of navigating the route on the ground they calculated a compass baring to follow and flying using instruments they stuck to that heading for much of the flight south. When the aircraft failed to arrive at Faldingworth it was reported as overdue and eventually as missing. Royal Observer Corp posts had tracked the aircraft south until loosing sight of it over the North York Moors at around 13.27hrs.

I assume that because the R.O.C. had tracked the aircraft over the Moors the site was searched for in the time after the crash until it was found. Because of the poor weather the crash site was not found until 14th January 1945; six days after it was reported as missing. The aircraft had flown into the ground and broken up with all on board being killed. It was thought that the aircraft had iced up or the engines were failing because of carburretor icing and it had then lost height or the pilot had tried to descend out of these conditions and it crashed while descending. Having located the crash site I had initially believed the aircraft to have flown in from the south and struck high ground, it transpires that this was not infact what happened. The aircraft had flown in from the north and descended onto the downward facing slope having just cleared the top of Urra Moor which is also the highest top of the Moors. At some point after the crash much of the aircraft was either recovered or burnt on site and in the years after the crash the larger metal sections were collected together to tidy the area.

Oxford LW903 was built to contract ACFT/2144 by Percival Aircraft Ltd at Luton and was delivered into RAF MU storage in August 1943. After a period in storage it was issued to 18 (P)AFU based at Church Lawford on 1st July 1944 must must have been loaned to No.1546 B.A.T.Flight well before the accident on Urra Moor though this is not reflected in the published service history of the aircraft. I had initially suggested that the aircraft was being flown either to or from Church Lawford or Snitterfield where 18 (P)AFU were based, this was not the case. It was written off after the incident detailed above with Cat.E2/FA damage being recorded.

Pilot (/ Instructor) - F/O Owen Munro Wovenden Clarson RCAF (J/25795), aged 22. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.

Second Pilot (/ Instructor) - F/O John Donald Stewart Barkell RAF (150443), aged 21. Buried Botley Cemetery, Oxford.

Passenger / Pilot - F/O Norman Geoffrey Riley RCAF (J/26110), aged 24. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.

Two photographs of Owen Clarson and his headstone (I thank Mrs Bev. Walkling, cousin of Owen Clarson, for kindly contacting me and supplying these photographs). Owen Clarson was born on 10th June 1922 and was the son of Henry Thomas and Dorothea Clarson, of Gardenvale, Province of Quebec, Canada. After attending school he was worked as an electrical installer for Northern Electric, Montreal prior to enlisting for RCAF service. In April 1943 he begun training at No.6 Service Flying Training School (6 S.F.T.S.) in Canada and later No.7 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit (7 (P)A.F.U.) in England before being selected to become a flying instructor. He then trained at No.2 Flying Instructor School (2 F.I.S.) before posting to 1546 Beam Approach Training Flight as an instructor. At the time of his death he had 321 hours flying time on the Oxford type. His father Harry Clarson was born in Aston, Staffordshire, England in 1895 but had moved to Canada at a young age. He had served in the Canadian Infantry during the First World War and had lost a brother Alexander Clarson killed on 29th April 1915.

Donald Barkell and his gravestone at Botley Cemetery, Oxford. He was the son of John Harry and Catherine Mary (nee Galloway) Barkell and was born on 12th December 1923 in the North Witchford area of Cambridgeshire. His father was a schoolmaster and they appear to have moved to Daventry when he was young. My thanks to Mr Gerry Thompson for the photograph of Donald Barkell which was almost certainly taken when he attended Daventry Grammar School. His father, who was originally from Tavistock, Devon, was headmaster at the same school for 23 years. Donald Barkell trained at Pensacola, 11 (P)AFU in England before being selected to become a flying instructor and he then trained with No.7 FIS. He was then posted to 1546 BAT Flight. He received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) on 26th May 1943 and rose to F/O on probation on 26th November 1943.

F/O Riley's headstone in Harrogate Cemetery, Yorkshire. He was born on 8th July 1920 to John Henry and Emily Jane Riley, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was married to Mary Riley. He trained at 5 EFTS in Canada and 21 (P)AFU in England. During this time he too must have been selected to train as a flying instructor and was then posted to No.7 FIS before posting to 1546 BAT Flight.

The burnt area as seen in 2010 where the aircraft crashed sixty five years previously.

Large pieces of the aircraft at the crash site.

Part of a fuel tank pump or sensor.

A number sequence prefixed with the "10" which refers to the Airspeed 10/46, which was the Oxford type.

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