On 8th November 1946 the two crew on board this 54 Operational Training Unit aircraft were undertaking a daylight training flight out of their base of RAF Leeming in Yorkshire, they had taken off at around 11.00hrs. During the flight the aircraft flew across the North Yorkshire Moors and entered thick cloud, while flying in cloud the pilot lost control and the aircraft dived into the ground at high speed on Pockley Moor, some miles to the north of Helmsley and exploded leaving a large crater. Although never proven because of the destruction of the aircraft it was strongly suspected that the effect of icing had occurred on the aircraft's control surfaces and the pilot's ability to keep control of the aircraft was greatly reduced. This icing effect also altered the aerodynamics of the wings of aircraft and often resulted in them entering an uncontrolled dive under certain cloud conditions. Because of the time of year this icing effect could (and probably was) the factor in this accident occurring. The pilot had been a prisoner of war for five years and was probably undergoing refresher training at 54 OTU, his navigator was less experienced.
Through correspondance with local people extra information has come to light; Mr George Clark of nearby Birk Nab Farm and his brother were working in fields near to the farm when they saw the aircraft come out of cloud at a very steep angle and was very low and crash into the moor just over a mile away. He and his brother then made their way to the scene to try and assist the crew but it was clear that they had been killed instantly.
Mosquito NT266 was built to contract 1/576 by De Havilland Ltd at Leavesden and was delivered to 218 MU at Colerne on 18th November 1944. It was issued to C.F.E. at Wittering on 11th December 1944 before being transferred to 54 O.T.U. at Charterhall on 17th May 1945. It moved with the unit to East Moor in November 1945 and moved with this unit to Leeming on 7th July 1946. It was written following the accident on 8th November 1946 with Cat.E2/FA(Burnt) damage being the damage assessment and it was struck off charge some months later when the paperwork was finally completed on 3rd July 1947.
Pilot - S/Ldr Noel Dan Hallifax RAF (33404), aged 27, of Warren Mayfield, Sussex. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Navigator / Radar Operator - F/O Roy Edward Chater RAFVR (194286), aged 21, of Sidcup, Kent. Cremated Mitcham, South London.
Noel "Dan" Hallifax and his gravestone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. Noel "Dan" or Danel Hallifax was the youngest son of Edwin Richard CMG CBE and Eveline Hallifax. His father's life is probably just as interesting and he has his own very large Wikipedia page (but with numerous mistakes on it when viewed in early 2016); Edwin was a son of Benjamin Hallifax who was a tea plantation owner, in Darjeeling, India. Edwin Hallifax became an important Colonial Civil Servant in Hong Kong working with the Chineese in the early 1900s. Noel was born on 24th December 1918 in Hong Kong. Shipping passenger lists in the early 1920s show that Edwin, his wife and family made a number of journeys between the UK and Hong Kong. Noel Hallifax underwent officer training at Cranwell and was granted a permanent commission in the RAF with the rank of P/O on 17th December 1938. In the early months of the War he was a pilot serving with 3 Squadron but during the Battle of France, whilst undertaking a patrol aboard Hurricane N2422 on 15th May 1940 he was shot down after combat an Me-110 near Zeebrugge, he survived the incident but was captured and became a prisoner of war. During the attack he appears to have received burn injuries to his hands, legs and face. While a PoW he was treated by the German medics in Frankfurt and later at a hospital at Halle Saale. While a PoW he was promoted to the rank of F/O (war subs) on 17th June 1940 and rose to F/Lt exactly a year later. Although little of his early years as a PoW are not know he must have been a handful for his guards as he was sent to the infamous Colditz Castle. The photograph above of him is taken from a website dedicated to Colditz Castle "Colditzcastle.net". He arrived at Colditz on 14th November 1942 but left there on 7th January 1945 and was repatriated by 16th February 1945 I would suggest because of his injuries. On arrival back in the UK he was admitted to East Grinstead Hospital on 16th February 1945 to treat the injuries. Post-WW2 he continued his RAF service. He rose to S/Ldr on 1st October 1946 (Gazetted 1st November 1946) having being made a Temporary S/Ldr on the 1st July 1943 while he was a PoW. The National Archives hold file "WO416/158/380" which I have copied and will hold a lot more information but it is in German and have not attempted to translate it.
The website "aircrashsites.co.uk" states that he was a holder of the DFC and the DSO but there is no evidence for this.
Roy Chater was born in 1925 at Bromley and was the son of Edward T and Marjorie K (nee Young) Chater. He was the elder of two sons, his father was secretary of Chislehurst and Sidcup Urban District Council. From September 1937 until July 1943 he attended Eltham College as a day-boy. During the war the Chater family home in Christchurch Road, Sidcup was quite badly bombed. Roy had hoped to attend university and become an architect but was called up to serve in the RAFVR. Little is known of navigator Roy Chater's RAF service other than he received a commission on 20th July 1945 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) and he was promoted to F/O on 20th January 1946 (war subs). His name is commemorated on the Streatham Park Cemetery war memorial, London. I thank Mr Andy Chater for contacting me in April 2015 and for kindly supplying the photograph shown above of his late uncle. I also thank Dr Douglas Peters for kindly contacting me in November 2015 and supplying information regarding Roy's school days; both Dr Peters and he had been in the same form at Eltham College.
The site of crash on Pockley Moor as it was in 2010. This crash location was one of the first that I visited before really being interested in the stories behind the accidents. I first visited the site in 1995 with Ben Thompson and Steve Sutherland and it pretty much resembled much what is shown on the photograph above. Since then I have paid the site a number of visits and with this location been widely known of and recorded in a number of books the quantity of remaining wreckage appears decreased on every visit.
The majority of the remaining wreckage at the crash site today, undercarriage sections.
The only part number that I could find in March 2013.
As previously stated, this crash site has been one of the most widely visited sites on the North Yorkshire Moors for many years. Because of this there was (and still is) a tendancy for bits to be taken away by some visitors. Since the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 came into being such activities without an MoD licence are illegal but prior to 1986 a number of groups carried out digs at the site and a number of these people have been kind to contact me. Brian Rapier's York-based group was one such group and the photograph above shows a propeller found during his visit. Mr Tony Agar's Mosquito rebuild, now on show at the Yorkshire Air Museum, includes parts found at the Pockley Moor crash site and it can therefore be seen that such recovery work done years ago has been put to good use in this rebuild which is a fantastic achievment.
This was the site as it was found by Mr Adrian Morris when he visited the site in May 1977. Very different than it is today. My thanks to him for contacting me and for this photograph.