This night 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 Halifax's 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 encouter 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. The 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 assist injured 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 and was delivered directly to 426 Squadron on 9th September 1944. It was destroyed in the incident detailed above with Cat.E2/Burnt damage being recorded. 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.
Flight Engineer - P/O William Albert Togwell RAFVR (195231), aged 25, of Derby? 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.
Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt William Albert Way RCAF (J/94149), aged 20, of St Thomas, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - P/O Benedict Joseph "Bennie" McCarthy RCAF (J94463), aged 27, of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Mid Upper Gunner - P/O Maxwell Warren Coones RCAF (J/95426), aged 20, of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Rear Gunner - P/O Richard Alan Biggerstaff RCAF (J/95425), aged 18 (or 19?), of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Six of the airmen's graves at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. 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.
William Togwell was appointed to commission in the RAF as P/O on probation (emergency) on 19th February 1945. Little else is known about his life other than he had married Florrie Bettison in 1941 and in the marriage register his name is listed as Albert William Togwell. The only English birth that fits for him was registered in 1919 in Carlisle and his name was also recorded as Albert William Togwell.
Frank Myers was born on 20th April 1924 to Frederick Jno and Jean Ferguson Myers of Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada.
William Way was born on 14th October 1924 to Mr & Mrs C.F. Way, of St.Thomas, Ontario, Canada.
Richard Biggerstaff was born on 2nd November 1925 to Richard William and Helen Amelia Biggerstaff of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
Maxwell Coones was born on 5th June 1924 to John Howard and Mary Christina Coones of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. He received his commission on an unknown date.
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 the resulting explosion spread wreckage around for some distance. I have yet to visit the site of the crash as it is on private land. Aircraft part collector is known to have visited this site and recovered alot of the small surface remains which were kept in his private collection at least until 2011 when the police and MoD raided his property. I would expect there to be some small peices of the aircraft left at the site.
In April 2004 John and myself searched the woodland to the west of the crash site and located a large peice of the aircraft's undercarriage in the undergrowth. Since this was first seen in the woodland it has now taken up residence in Ken Ward's private collection in Bilsdale.
Part of one of the aircraft's undercarriage legs which was to be seen in woodland close to the crash site in 2005. This peice now resides in Ken Ward's collection in Bilsdale.
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 items in Ken Ward's collection which he found in the field where the aircraft crashed. Above is the bezel from the Navigator's Dalton Computer and below are various plates and buckles.
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.