On 11th December 1941 this 10 Squadron aircraft took off from Leeming at 16.30hrs to undertake an operational flight to bomb Cologne. On their return to Yorkshire the crew became lost in bad visibility and because of a faulty altimeter the pilot was attempting to fly with the ground in sight. At 01.43hrs the aircraft became caught in, what was reported as, a severe down draught and soon after it crashed into moorland. This would probably have been the first lump of high ground they encountered after flying over the Vale of York. It crashed on Eavestone Moor, near Eavestone village, between Ripon and Pateley Bridge killing one of the crew and injuring the other four on board. The incident is referred to in a war diary compiled by Neil Blunden RNZAF and given on the internet by Linzee Druce; he states that the aircraft caught fire on crashing and that the observer and wireless operator pulled the pilot clear, later attempting to put out the fire in the aircraft.
Whitley Z9188 was built to contract 106962/40 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was received by 27 MU on 14th September 1941. It was taken on charge by 10 Squadron at Leeming on 13th October 1941. As a result of the crash on 12th December 1941 Cat.E2/FB damage was the assessment and the aircraft was written off. It was struck off charge on 1st January 1942.
Pilot - P/O John Henry Kenny RAFVR (67700). Injured.
Second Pilot - Sgt Eric Charles Hoskin RAFVR (1209438), aged 25. Buried Sandiacre (St.Giles) Churchyard, Derbyshire.
Observer - P/O Robert George Albert Burgess RNZAF (NZ.403601). Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt John Kitchener Taylor RNZAF (NZ.391077). Injured.
Air Gunner - Sgt Robert Clark RAFVR (973055). Injured.
Eric Hoskin was born on 1916 at Hackney, London and was the son of Albert Charles and Lily Roper (nee Williams) Hoskin. His father was born in Michigan, USA. He married Nancy Florence Way in Birmingham in 1940 and his address on probate is given as The White Lion Inn, Sandiacre, Derbyshire.
John Kenny receieved a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 1st June 1941 and rose to F/O (war subs) exactly a year later. Both Kenny and Burgess were posted to North Africa to serve with 10/227 Squadron in Mid-1942 and later briefly served with 462 Squadron when it formed in North Africa. 462 Squadron was meant to be an RAAF squadron but at the time the unit had just one RAAF airman in its ranks! All 462 Squadron's serving aircrew were posted back the UK in January 1943 as time expired aircrew. John Kenny rose to F/Lt (war subs) on 1st June 1943 and was awarded the DFC (Gazetted on 11th June 1943) but the unit he was with at the time was not noted in the London Gazette nor has any citation for the award been found but it may relate to his operational flying up to this date with a number of units. The then F/Lt John Kenny DFC sadly lost his life on 7th August 1944 serving with 139 Squadron, Pathfinders. He was aged thirty and is buried at Southampton's Hollybrook Cemetery. His aircraft, Mosquito KB202, caught fire after overshooting a landing in fog at his Upwood base on return from Ops to Castrop-Rauxel and struck the end of a row of terrace houses close to the airfield and sadly two serving aircrew who were in the house at the time also were killed. After his death he was posthumously awarded the Bar to the DFC (Gazetted on 13th October 1944, but back dated to 6th August 1944) for service with 139 Squadron. The photograph of him shown above was found in Flight Magazine archives.
Robert Burgess was born on 21st December 1921 at Whakatane, New Zealand. He joined the RNZAF in September 1940 and having flown his first tour of operations in both the UK and North Africa later returned to New Zealand in 1943. He remained in the RNZAF post-War serving with Air Traffic Control in the Reserve until 1976. He died on 13th March 1991 in New Zealand.
John Taylor was born on 25th May 1916 and died on 3rd June 2000 in New Zealand.
I attempted to locate the crash site in March 2007 but failed to find any trace of the aircraft. The area shown on the above photograph is the location widely quoted as where the aircraft came down but if the aircraft did indeed catch fire then there should be some small remains left at the site.