On the night of 2nd / 3rd September 1942 the crew of this No.11 Operational Training Unit Wellington was tasked with a night cross-country training exercise along with other aircraft from the same training unit. They took off from Bassingbourn airfield with the route of the training flight directing them north roughly up the Vale of York / Mowbray to use Catterick as a turning point, from there Cambridge was a turning point before them then being instructed to return to base. The eventual survivor later stated that he believed they reached Catterick having struggled with visibility prior to reaching Catterick and then set course for Peterborough. On this night bad weather was effecting the Yorkshire area. The crew undoubtably were having trouble with visibility flying through heavy rain, thunder, lightning and in the low cloud they drifted over high ground. The aircraft later descended, probably unwittingly knowing they were over high ground, and struck moorland between Nidderdale and Wharfedale on an area known as Blake Hill, on Riggs Moor, to the east of Kettlewell. The large fire after the impact destroyed much of the fuselage section but one airman managed to escape and get clear though sustained burns to his legs and hip, and also cuts to his arms and face. He was found the next day and taken to Harrogate General Hospital and after treatment at a hospital in Preston he made a recovery. His four crew mates were not so lucky, they were all killed. Around the same time this aircraft crashed another Wellington of the same training unit and almost certainly flying the same route crashed a few miles away from DV718. Another four crews flying the same route this night reported the weather caused no problems in navigating the route.
Wellington DV718 was built to contract B.124362/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Hawarden, Chester and was awaiting collection in March 1942. It was initially flown to 44 M.U. at Edzell on 27th March 1942 and wa then taken on charge by 11 O.T.U. at Bassingbourn on 16th April 1942. In late-May 1942 it suffered a minor mishap at Bassingbourn which caused minor damage to the aircraft to Cat.A(c)/FA status but it was repaired on site and returned to the unit on 6th June 1942. As result of the crash in Yorkshire on 3rd September 1942 Cat.E2/FA(Burnt) damage was the damage assessment and the aircraft was written off. It was struck off charge on 29th September 1942 when the paperwork caught up.
Pilot - Sgt George Francis Ridgway RNZAF (NZ.414680), aged 20. Buried Windhill Methodist Cemetery, Shipley, Yorkshire.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Willie Allinson RAFVR (1145494), aged 34. Buried Hoyland Nether Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Howard William Spencer RAFVR (1200412), aged 31. Buried Chilcomb Churchyard, Hampshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Paul McLarnon RAFVR (999862), aged 22. Buried Belfast Milltown Roman Catholic Cemetery, Northern Ireland.
Navigator - P/O Donald Harrison Lyne RAFVR (125540), of Whitby, Cheshire. Seriously injured.
George Ridgway was born on 18th June 1922 at Hamilton, Auckland, New Zealand and was the son of Harold Francis and Eliza (nee Russell) Ridgway. He must have had family connections to Shipley, West Yorkshire as he was buried there. He enlisted for RNZAF service on 17th August 1941
Paul McLarnon was born on 12th February 1918 at Belfast. He enlisted for RAF service on 27th May 1940.
Willie Allinson was born at Cullingworth, Yorkshire on 6th May 1908 and was the son of Robert Thompson and Edith (nee Haste) Allinson. He enlisted for RAF service on 28th February 1941. He married Maria Elizabeth Carr in 1930 at Barnsley.
Howard Spencer was born on 24th February 1912 at Winchester and was the son of William Henry and Frances Amelia (nee Williams) Spencer. He married Margaret Alice Pannell in 1935 and enlisted for RAF service on 14th September 1940.
Donald Lyne was born on 19th August 1919 at Ashton under Lyne and was the son of Wilfred William and Lena (nee Ogden) Lyne. As a young man he had served as an Air Cadet. He received a commission on 11th May 1942 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency). It is remarkable that he survived this accident in the Yorkshire Dales but he did and recovered from his injuries sustained in this flying accident. At that time his mother lived at Whitby, Cheshire. He was later was promoted to F/O (war subs) on 11th November 1942. Having completed his training on Stirlings he was later posted to 149 Squadron but was sadly killed on 22nd June 1943 flying in Stirling BK799 on Ops to Krefeld. The aircraft was shot down by Oblt Ernst-Georg Drunkler of 12/NJG1, this was his third of forty seven confirmed successes. Donald Lyne was twenty three years old and is now buried in Wonseradeel Churchyard, Holland after initial burial more local to the crash site near Makkum.
The main overview of the crash site as it was in 2009. I first visited the site in August 2005 and have returned a number of times in the years since then.
Myself with one of the remaining wing sections still at the site.
The following photographs show the site as it was in the early 1970's before the larger sections were removed.
This shows the complete tail section of the fuselage with the rear turret bay shown in the foreground. RAF Henlow ATC are thought to have removed this section from the crash site some years ago as it was last seen at the site in 1981. Whether this is still preserved is not known.
The photograph above shows the complete tail fin which appears to have survived the crash attached to the fuselage and was then roughly chopped off by an axe from the tail section shown above.
A cockpit window section is shown in the photograph above with a landing light and part of the exhaust system. Photos kindly supplied by air historians Graham Sharpe and Nick Roberts.
The RAF appear to have done very little to recover anything from this crash site, with possibly the exception of the two engines. A propeller boss spinner was located by Nick Roberts in the 1970s and this showed signs of being chopped off with an axe. Whether the RAF actually recovered the engines or needed to remove the propeller to enable them to bury it on site is unclear. Because the site remote it would be far easier for the recovery team to bury the engines but had they done so then I am unaware of them ever been located. By the late 1960s bigger sections of the airframe and the internal components were being recovered by interested parties. This must have continued continually upto the mid-1990s. Henlow ATC are believed to have recovered much of it. Interested individuals recovered parts. Nick Roberts recovered the tail wheel fork, a wing tip and various other parts. The location of the tail section, the other wing sections and other larger pieces once seen at the site are unknown. I would be interested to learn and show photographs of anything anyone may have of this aircraft.