On 22nd March 1943 the crew of 25 Squadron Mosquito DD750 (pictured above) were returning to base at Church Fenton after a cancelled "Ranger" operation when this incident occurred. The "Ranger" operations were similar to the Luftwaffe intruder flights, night-fighters would fly alone in the landing patterns of enemy aircraft near their bases and try and shoot them down. The squadron the Mosquito belonged to had been using a forward base of Coltishall airfield and three aircraft took off from there to return to base at Church Fenton on this evening. On nearing Church Fenton this crew contacted base to state their intention of landing but were told to hold off landing and await their turn in the airfield circuit, they were wrongly directed into a holding pattern over high ground and they were then give the wrong height at which to fly. The aircraft flew into high ground to the east of Sildsen at speed and at night and in low cloud conditions. The aircraft appears to have clipped the very top of the escarpment at Windgate Nick, flying roughly north to south, and crashed onto the moor behind spreading wreckage over a wide area at 21.00hrs.
Mosquito DD750 was built to Contract Ctts/a/c/555 by the De Havilland Aircraft Company Ltd. at Hatfield and was awaiting collection in September 1942. It was received by 30 MU on 10th September 1942 and then passed to 27 MU on 22nd September 1942. The aircraft was taken on charge by 25 Squadron at Church Fenton on 22nd October 1942. As a result of the crash on 22nd March 1943 Cat.E2/FA Burnt damage was the damage assessment and it was written off. The aircraft was struck off charge on 26th March 1943 and had clocked up just over 102 flying hours from new.
Pilot - Sgt John Hudson Staples RAFVR (656008), aged 28. Buried Llaniestyn (St Iestyn) Churchyard, Anglesey, Wales.
Navigator / Wireless Operator - Sgt Ralph Ernest Andrews RAFVR (1576326), aged 20. Buried Stoke-on-Trent (Hartshill) Cemetery (Grave 7142).
In the mid 2000's I was contacted by a member Silsden Town Council to let me know of a plan for a memorial to be erected near the crash site. It took some to time for the project to be completed and the memorial was erected in late 2010 which replaced a tiny plaque which was at the site some years ago with an incorrect date for the crash. Unfortunately the new memorial also has an incorrect date for the crash.
I located the crash site in December 2006 and tiny fragments of the aircraft are all that remained at the crash site. A small area where part of the aircraft burnt out is still visible in a break in the heather. I revisited the site and the memorial on the 68th anniversary of the accident.
John Staples was the son of John Price and Jane Ellen (nee Thomas) Staples. His parents were dairy farmers at Llaniestyn, Anglesey. My thanks to his family for contacting me in 2010 and for the information they were able to provide.
Ralph Ernest Andrews was born in Stoke-on-Trent on 1922 and was the son of Frank and Gladys E (nee Oldacre) Andrews. He attended Hanley High School as a child then worked in the laboratories of the British Aluminium Company. From his obituary it appears that he had been cared for by what appears to have been his grandparents, Alfred Ernest and Beatrice Oldacre, of the Post Office, Etruria, Stoke.