The 5th March 1945 was a bad night for Bomber Command, a number of aircraft were to be lost due to suffering from severe icing conditions soon after taking off from their Yorkshire bases, these icing conditions effected the control surfaces of the aircraft and there were a number of accidents, it was one of seven Halifaxes to crash due to identical circumstances. Halifax NP793 was one of 760 aircraft leaving to bomb Chemnitz on 5th March 1945 on Operation Thunderclap, the crew left their Linton on Ouse base at 16.48hrs and flew in a north-easterly direction over the Moors and climbed. Crews were ordered to circle base until all the unit's aircraft were in the air so they could all continue as one large bombing force, where the pilots of each aircraft flew during this waiting time was more or less up to them so long as they were over Linton at a set time, in this case around 17.30hrs. No adverse weather was forecast prior to taking off, though this would prove to be an inaccurate forecast. Soon after taking off this aircraft began to encounter the icing conditions, the pilot began circling in an attempt to get above freezing fog which was present over much of North Yorkshire on this evening but this attempt failed and the aircraft came down after control had been lost at a location to the south of Hutton le Hole and near Westfield Farm at 16.59hrs. Some of the crew, possibly three, are believed to have survived the initial crash and are thought to have been trying to attempt to rescue other members of the crew when the bomb load exploded, this resulted in all seven on board the aircraft being killed.

The book "Thunderbirds at War, Diary of a Bomber Squadron, 426 Squadron" by Laurance Motiuk gives an excellent account of the incident supplied by Mr W.E.Strickland who lived at nearby Westfield Lodge Farm and who witnessed the crash unfold, he was "out in his farmyard when he heard a Halifax making a peculiar noise and saw it, just below cloud at about 3000 feet, making a slow, flat spin to the right. As the aircraft fell, it spun faster, then nosed down and struck the ground at about forty-five degrees about 300 yards away" from him. When it struck the ground it burst into flames. Several minutes later the bombload blew up."

Halifax NP793 was built to contract ACFT/1688/C4/C by Handley Page at Radlett. It was delivered to 48 MU on 9th September 1944 and was taken on charge by 426 Squadron on 16th November 1944. It was destroyed in the incident at Hutton le Hole on 5th March 1945 with Cat.E2/Burnt damage being the damage assessment. A brief entry in Linton on Ouse's ORB states: "Halifax crashed at Kirkbymoorside."

Pilot - F/O Humphrey Stanley Watts RCAF (J/37111), aged 28, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (H/P/16).

Flight Engineer - P/O William Albert Togwell RAFVR (195231), aged 25. Buried Nottingham Road Cemetery, Derby.

Navigator - F/O Frank MacGregor Myers RCAF (J/39365), aged 20, of Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (H/P/17).

Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt William Albert Way RCAF (J/94149), aged 20, of St.Thomas, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (H/P/15).

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - P/O Benedict Joseph McCarthy RCAF (J/94463), aged 27, of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (H/P/3).

Mid Upper Gunner - P/O Maxwell Warren Coones RCAF (J/95426), aged 20, of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (H/P/14).

Rear Gunner - P/O Richard Alan Biggerstaff RCAF (J/95425), aged 18 (or 19?), of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (H/P/13).

Humphrey Watts and his crew all killed in the accident near Hutton le Hole. "Mac, Frank, Ben, Bill, Skipper, Red, Toggie". I identify as follows... Back row L-R - Myers, Way, Watts, Biggerstaff, Togwell. Front row L-R - Coones, McCarthy.

This crew photoraph was kindly supplied to this account by F/Lt Williams of (the now defunct) RAF Linton on Ouse Memorial Room but sadly no names of the crew were known at that time. After posting the photograph on this webpage I was contacted by a relation of P/O Coones in November 2012. In September 2013 I was contacted by a niece of Florey Togwell and she kindly identified her late husband and the two other crew named, I thank Andrea Brown for contacting and for her input in this webpage. In May 2021 a niece of William Way contacted me and she had exactly the same photograph with names on the reverse (as shown above). From this and comparing the photographs in their service files I am confindent that all are now correctly identified. This crew were one of the youngest in respect of combined ages killed in Yorkshire in the whole war. Their faces here still look so young and we must bare in mind that many were at least 18 months into their service when this photograph was taken.

Six of the airmen's graves at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire and William Togwell's at Derby. The Canadian airmen killed in this crash and others on the same date were buried at Harrogate on 12th March 1945, various funeral services took place during the morning with interment soon after. In all seventeen Linton airmen were buried at Harrogate on this morning.

Humphrey Watts was born on 3rd October 1916 to Herbert Stanley and Margaret Watts, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He had studied at the McGill University, Montreal where he graduated with an M.Sc in 1940 before enlisting into the RCAF. He received his commission on an unknown date. F/O Watts had completed 22 operational sorties prior to his death. The RAF AM.Form1180 for NP793 states that F/O Watts had lost his logbook prior to operational flying but stated that he had 509 hours total to his name, of which 174 were on the Halifax type, all operational hours. He had also flown aircraft MZ454, NA184 and NA190. On 8th February 1944, Watts and crew had just dropped their bombs over the target when the hydraulics failed, the aircraft returned to base and landed safely. On 28th December 1943, Watts and crew were on the way to attacking Opladen when they were attacked six times by a Me110 at 20,000 feet. Evasive action was taken, the rear gunner, F/Sgt Biggerstaff's guns had jammed so he could not return fire. Some of the Me110's bullets struck home damaging the de-icing fluid lines near the mid upper gunner, F/Sgt Coones. He too did not return fire as he was blinded by the fluid going into his eyes. Somehow F/O Watts shook the enemy off and they continued to the target and returned to the UK without further incident. This was in the same aircraft that they were all to be killed in a few months later.

Frank Myers was born on 20th April 1924 to Frederick Jno and Jean Ferguson Myers of Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada. Now for a puzzle...Laid down in the churchyard of St.James the Apostle in Cowley, Oxfordshire is part of an earlier CWGC-style gravestone to Frank Myers. The stone at Cowley is missing the RCAF Wings which have been roughly cut off and other than that the stone is identical but has clearly been in Cowley for some years. It may be an early rejected stone and disposed of only to find its way into the churchyard when re-discovered at a later date. The CWGC replace worn stones from time to time but one would expect the old stones not to re-surface elsewhere so why has this early stone removed from Harrogate found its way into this churchyard in Oxfordshire? The photograph of this second stone was kindly sent to me by the Oxfordshire Family History Society "www.ofhs.org.uk".

William Way was born on 14th October 1924 in Exeter, Ontario, Canada and was the son of Charles Fredrick and Julia May (nee Rivers) Way. The family moved to St.Thomas, Ontario when he was young and he attended school and college there. In 1941 he started working as a bank clerk at a local bank. He enlisted for RCAF service on 11th November 1942 in London, Ontario and with basic training complete he was awarded his air bombers' flying badge on 14th January 1944. On arrival in the UK he trained at 7 (O)AFU, 24 OTU and 1666 HCU before posting to 426 Squadron on 17th November 1944. I thank his niece Caroline Gulbronson for contacting me in May 2021 and for the information she was kind enough to provide.

Richard Biggerstaff was born as Richard Barfield on 2nd November 1925 in London, England but was fostered and then adopted by Richard William and Helen Amelia Biggerstaff (nee Redman) in England prior to the family then emigrating to Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. He was working as a lorry driver when he tried to enlist into the RCAF in 1942 but was initially rejected as he was too young, when he was old enough he was succesful in enlisting for RCAF service on 9th April 1943 in Winnipeg. After basic training in Canada he was awarded his Air Gunner's Wings on 14th January 1944. On arrival in the UK in April 1944 he trained at 20 OTU, 24 OTU and 1666 HCU before posting to 426 Squadron on 17th November 1944 (probably with the whole Watts crew). He received a commission after his death but back-dated to 4th March 1945.

Maxwell Coones was born on 5th June 1924 to John Howard and Mary Christina Coones (nee Reid), of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. He was working as a machinst when he enlisted for RCAF service on 17th July 1943 in Toronto, Ontario. After basic training in Canada was awarded his Air Gunner's badge on 11th February 1944. On arrival in the UK in April 1944 he trained at 24 OTU, beginning 16th May 1944 and later 1666 HCU, beginning 27th September 1944. He was posted to 426 Squadron on 17th November 1944. He received a commission after his death but back-dated to 4th March 1945.

Bennie McCarthy was born on 16th February 1918 in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia to William and Janet McCarthy, he had five sisters and two brothers. When he was young the family moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick where he finished his education. He returned to Glace Bay in 1939 and begun working for a bakery until he enlisted into the RCAF in 1941. After initial training he begun his training as a wireless operator and it was while training at 31 OTU at Debert, Nova Scotia that Sgt McCarthy (R/124696) was lucky to survive a serious flying accident. On 8th April 1943 he was flying in Hudson FK408 on a navigation exercise when the aircraft crashed into Cape Mabou Mountain, Cape Breton in bad weather at night, the pilot had stated that he was unable to make the aircraft climb before it struck the mountain and two of the three crew died when it crashed near Mabou Coal Mines. Bennie McCarthy was in the rear section of the aircraft at the time of the crash and escaped death as the tail section broke off, he sustained a serious arm injury but was able to walk down the mountain for help at a farm, because of deep snow in the area he was initially treated in a private house where he stayed for over a week before being taken to hospital. He made a good recovery and returned to flying duties and was posted overseas on 6th April 1944. He had completed 21 operational flights when he was killed in the acciden to Halifax NP793 on the North Yorkshire Moors. His mother was living in Ottawa at the time of his death.

The Halifax came down in one of the fields towards the centre of the photograph above and below and the resulting explosion spread wreckage around for some distance. I have yet to visit the site of the crash as it is on private

In April 2004 I searched the woodland to the west of the crash site and located a large piece of the aircraft's undercarriage in the undergrowth.

Part of one of the aircraft's undercarriage legs which was to be seen in woodland close to the crash site in 2004.

This photograph shows the aircraft's undercarriage hinges sections which must have broken as it struck the ground in the woodland (left) and with the two items fitted back together (right).

A number of plates and other interesting items from this aircraft photographed in Ken Ward's collection. Above is the bezel from the Navigator's Dalton Computer and below are various plates, instrument faces, buckles, the morse-key tapper and a fired Verey cartridge case.

Back to North Yorkshire Moors table.