On 28th January 1945 the crew of this 1664 HEavy Conversion Unit aircraft took off from Dishforth airfield at 18.30hrs to undertake a night navigation training exercise combined with a bombing exercise. Soon after
setting out the aircraft suffered an engine problem when the oil pressure fell resulting in the port outer engine failing. The crew opted to end their training flight and had begun to return to base but soon afterwards the aircraft's H2S radio set is believed to have failed while the aircraft was flying in cloud. Almost certainly now unaware of their position the crew switched to the GEE set to attempt to find their way to base but as the aircraft broke cloud it crashed onto the snow covered high ground to the west of Pateley Bridge, on Heathfield Moor only 45 minutes into the flight. The aircraft crashed close to a series of old mine workings and broke up on impact with the tail section being less damaged than the front of the aircraft. Sadly four of the crew died as a result of the crash and a further four were seriously injured. An account of this incident appeared in Brian Lunn's "Aircraft Down II" book, his research found that the two air gunners were able to make their way off the moor to a nearby farmhouse to summon help. He also traced the pilot who stated that he was thrown through the front of the aircraft and landed in a three feet deep snow drift and thus probably saving his life. He came round a week later in Harrogate Hospital but never flew again in the War and returned to Canada in 1946.
Halifax LL576 was built to contract No.ACFT/637 by Rootes Securities Ltd at Speke and was delivered to 415 Squadron at East Moor on 15th July 1944. It sustained flak damage (and damage recorded as Cat.A/FB) on 11th September 1944 but was repaired on site at East Moor airfield. This incident is recorded on this website by clicking here. The aircraft later transferred to 1664 Heavy Conversion Unit Dishforth in December 1944. It was written off with Cat.E2/FA damage being recorded as a result of the accident near Pateley Bridge on 28th January 1945. In all it completed twenty eight operational flights with the last being on 27th November 1944.
Pilot - F/O Warren Bayley "Bud" Hustwitt RCAF (J/27565). of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Seriously injured.
Flight Engineer - Sgt F G "Fritz" Wright RCAF (R/214164). Seriously injured.
Spare Flight Engineer - Sgt Edward Max Bowman RCAF (R/64172), aged 27, of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Navigator - F/Sgt Keith Innes Gove RCAF (R/203035), aged 21, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Bomb Aimer - F/O Maurice Frederick Stevens RCAF (J/41771), aged 34. of Overbrook, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt William Charles Watts RCAF (R/223796), aged 19, of Mimico, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt R A McIntyre RCAF (R/154735). Injured.
Rear Gunner - Sgt Gerald T Watson RCAF (R/272883). Seriously Injured.
Many who were in Halifax LL576 when it crashed near Pateley Bridge in 1945. Sadly all their names are not yet known. Back row, ?, Hustwitt, Stevens.
Front row, ?, ?, Watts. My thanks to F/Sgt Watts' daughter and son in law for this photograph.
Ted Bowman and his grave at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. He was born on 20th November 1917 in Kitchener, Ontario and was the son of Allan and Dora (nee Tucklinsky) Bowman. Sadly both his parents had died by the time he enlisted into the RCAF and listed his sister Florence as his next of kin. As a young man he worked as a shirt and tie cutter for a number of companies in Kitchener, Ontario. He also spent time as a Cub Scout Master in Kitchener. He had orginally enlisted for RCAF aircrew service in Toronto in June 1940 but was not successful because of a hernia. He re-enlisted for RCAF ground crew service on 23rd September 1940 when this was fixed and was accepted. He then served in Canada as an air frame mechanic until late 1943 when he was successful in re-mustering to aircrew, initially training as a pilot but then switching to being a flight engineer in early 1944. He became trained as a flight engineer in September 1944. He left Canada in November 1944 for the UK arriving a couple of weeks later so probably made the trip on a boat. He was posted to 1664 HCU on 19th January 1945. I would like to thank Ms Dominique Toussaint for emailing me in January 2008; her Uncle, Edward Bowman was sadly killed in this inicident.
William Watts and his grave at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. Bill Watts was born on 12th March 1925 in Hanley, Saskatchewan but his family moved to Mimico, Ontario in 1941.
He was working for the Ontarion News Agency when he enlisted into the RCAF at the youngest age possible. He was married with a young daughter when he died. In November
2011 I was contacted by his daughter and son in law, Mr & Mrs Nesbitt and I thank them for the photographs and information they have been kind enough to provide this account. At the time of creating the initial webpage relating to this accident it was thought that one of the crew of Halifax LL576, possibly F/Sgt Watts had been seriously injured in the crash and had been taken down to a nearby farm where he sadly died. Through correspondance with the Nesbitts and other members of their family it is probable that this did not happen to F/Sgt Watts nor any of the crew of Halifax LL576. Halifax DG404 crashed slightly higher up the moor than LL576 in 1942 and a similar story exists, I would link any event of an airman dying at a farmhouse with the crew of this other aircraft.
Bill Watts had an older brother who served in the RCAF, John William Watts had served in the No.6 Group Bomber Command in North Yorkshire before his younger brother enlisted. S/Ldr John Watts later served as an instructor at No.4 SFTS and was awarded the Air Force Cross. Gazetted on 1st January 1946. Hugh Halliday's RCAF awards
research has found that as of December 1943 he had flown 1,280 hours, of these some 988 hours were as an instructor.
Keith Gove was born on 3rd June 1923 in Toronto and was the son of Edward Townsend and Undine Aline (nee Cook) Gove.
He enlisted for RCAF service on 4th November 1942 in Toronto and working as a clerk for the Canada Railroad Service at the time. After basic training as a navigator in Canada he
was posted the UK where he trained at 7 (O)AFU beginning 16th May 1944 and 82 OTU beginning 20th June 1944. He appears to have been posted to 1664 HCU around the end of October 1944.
CWGC list Keith Gove as serving with 424 Squadron at the time of his death but his service records so not list that he served with this squadron.
Maurice Stevens was born 10th January 1911.
Two photographs of the crash site of Halifax LL576, it is believed they were taken the day after the crash.
Searching the internet for Warren Hustwitt yields his wife Molly's death notice in Canada in September 2002 which states that Warren died in 1993.
My wife Caroline and I searched for the crash site in December 2006 but found nothing on this trip but I have learned that small fragments were found some years ago among old mine workings thought to be contained in the area of this photograph by air historians Ken Reast and Eric Barton. The bits located by the mine workings could well be what is left of where the wreckage was piled up at the edge of the moor prior to being carted away. The crash site may as a result be slightly higher up the moor. It has also been suggested that alot of the wreckage was thrown down some old mine workings by the RAF clear-up party to get rid of it.
My thanks to Eric Barton, Brian Lunn, Jim Rutland and Ken Reast for their input in this webpage.