This incident is well documented on a specific website run by surviving airman's son at "www.buckdenpike.co.uk".
On the night of 30th / 31st January 1942 this 18 Operational Training Unit aircraft took off from Bramcote airfield in Warwickshire to undertake a night time cross-country training flight over the north of England. Flying over Yorkshire they were met with heavy falling snow and poor visibility, they eventually became lost in the Skipton area and around the same time the effects of icing conditions occurred on the aircraft's surfaces which would have made controlling it difficult. Many pilots opted to descend when they were lost in poor visibility to try and drop below the cloud or weather and try and get a visual fix on their position. Doing this was against flying regulations because of the dangers of being over high ground when loosing height, it is possible that this occurred in this case of this aircraft and with the aircraft flying over Upper Wharfedale there was little space to decend before the aircraft would hit the ground. Decending could also reduce the icing effects but also the aircraft may have lost height because of partial loss of control by the pilot. The aircraft struck the ground near to a wall running along the summit ridge of Buckden Pike and broke up onto a snow covered grassy slope, it passed through a dry stone wall before coming to a halt pretty much on the summit ridge. The rear turret broke off during the crash and this probably saved the rear gunner's life. Before setting out to seek help he check the other members of his crew and found one of them to be still alive, after making him comfortable he set off to find help. The events surrounding his survival are well documented and have become legendary in the Yorkshire fellwalking community. While making his way down from the hill he found a set of fox footprints in the snow which he followed, eventually these footprints took him down to the small village of Cray where he sought help. He was found by Cray resident Nanny Parker who was out tending to her hens and noticed a strange shape in the snow, she went to investigate and found what turned out to be the surviving airman. By the time help arrived at the crash site the seriously injured airmen who had initially survived the crash had died. The entry in the Unit ORB stated that the survivor showed "great fortitude and determination in his efforts." In May 1942 he was presented with the British Empire Medal for his bravery.
Wellington N2848 was built to contract 992424/39 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Chester (Hawarden) and was awaiting collection in August 1940. On 6th August 1940 it was allotted to 48 MU at Hawarden and then on 13th August 1940 arrived there and was taken on charge by them. The aircraft must have been surplus to requirements as it remained at 48 MU until 7th May 1941 when it was taken on charge by 18 O.T.U. at Bramcote. It sustained minor damage in a flying accident on 5th June 1941, Cat.A(c)/FA damage was the assessment and it was repaired on site. The repair must have taken some time to complete as it was not returned to 18 O.T.U. until 10th September 1941. It again sustained minor damage, possibly the result of a ground accident, on 27th October 1941 and Cat.A damage assessment. It was again repaired on site by a team from Vickers Aircraft Ltd and returned to 18 OTU on 22nd November 1941. As a result of the crash on Buckden Pike on 30th January 1942 Cat.E2/FA damage was recorded and it was struck off charge on 6th February 1942 when the paperwork caught up. It had a total of 194 hours flying time to its name.
Pilot - F/Lt Czeslaw Kujawa PAF (P/0115), aged 26. Buried Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.
Second Pilot - P/O Jerzy Polczyk PAF (P/1615), aged 24. Buried Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.
Observer - F/O Tadeusz Jan Bieganski PAF (P/1368), aged 28. Buried Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Jan Sadowski PAF (792642), aged 32. Died of injuries. Buried Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.
Front Gunner - Sgt Jan Andrzej Tokarzewski PAF (782024), aged 25. Buried Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.
Rear Gunner - Sgt Jozef Fusniak PAF (780945). Broken left ankle.
Photographs of all of those killed in this accident; Jerzy Polczyk, Czeslaw Kujawa, Jan Sadowski, Jan Tokarzewski and Tadeusz Bieganski. Many of these photographs of those involved in this incident are taken from the superb "niebieskaeskadra.pl" website.
The five airmen's gravestones in Newark-upon-Trent Cemetery who sadly died as a result of this aircraft accident.
A large memorial cross was erected near the crash site in 1972 (pictured above in 1975 and photographed by Graham Sharpe). The weather and vandalism took a toll on the original
memorial and it was later re-made. An annual memorial service takes place on the closest sunday to 11th November followed by refreshments generally held in the pub in Starbotton.
The first service being in 1979 and Jozef Fusniak was present. 264 Squadron ATC (Skipton) now maintain the memorial.
This photograph shows the newer version of the memorial.
A few pieces of wreckage of this aircraft are to be found either concreted into the base of the memorial or placed next to it. When I visited in 2009 the three larger
pieces had been placed next to the memorial, two of which are pieces of the main geodetic structure that formed the Wellington shape. The part number shown below is a
typical Wellington number with a "285" prefix common to the type.
Not far from the memorial is a partly buried collection of wreckage which is probably at or very near the actual crash site. Some pieces are in very good condition
with the paint still present. Wooden and leather items are similarly well preserved such as the wooden item below which still has the silver paint on it.
Jozef Fusniak would later complete his training and be posted to 301 Squadron. On 21st / 22nd July 1942 he was flying in Wellington Z1406 on an operational flight to Duisburg when the aircraft was hit by flak and exploded over Holland. He had a lucky escape when his turret was blown off and he was able to deploy his parachute. Again, he was the only survivor from the aircraft and after trying to avoid capture he was eventually caught on the Dutch / German boarder and was later taken to the Lamsdorf PoW camp. Before his release from captivity he survived the infamous Lamsdorf death march. He died in July 2017 in Cambridge at the age of ninety five. I thank his son for contacting me and the additional information he was kind enought to provide.
