Halifax JP117 near Helperthorpe, south of East Heslerton.

The night of the 21st/22nd January 1944 saw a large bomber force attack Magdeburg in Germany. 648 aircraft were out up of which 224 were Halifaxs and some of the main force were using the new H2S system. Halifax JP117 took off from Breighton airfield at 20.04hrs on the night of 21st January 1944 and the crew bombed the target from around 20,000 feet at 23.10hrs. While over the target area JP117 is believed to have been damaged by heavy flak and on their return the aircraft encountered bad visibility over Yorkshire. At 02.15hrs on 22nd January 1944 the damaged aircraft flew into the rising ground to the south-east of East Heslerton on. As there were no obstructions in the way in this part at the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds the aircraft stayed more or less intact and only one of the crew sustained injuries. The crew were able to return to flying duties the following day; that is all apart from the flight engineer who took some weeks to recover and return to duty.

The location of where this occured is almost certainly near Helperthorpe around four miles to the south-east of East Heslerton.

Halifax JP117 was built to Contract B124357/40 by The London Passenger Transport Board Ltd, at their Leavesden factory. It was issued to 78 Squadron at Breighton in December 1943 but then a transfer appears on the paperwork but probably never happened in truth; it is registered as being with 3 OAPU at Llandow in December 1943 but this is clearly a clerical error. It was written off following the incident near East Heslerton on 22nd January 1944.

Pilot - Sgt William Mockler, uninjured.

F Eng - Sgt W Walker, seriously injured.

Nav - F/O Frederick F Sait RCAF (J/24039), uninjured.

BA - F/O F Henderson, uninjured.

WOp/AG - Sgt S Howard, uninjured.

AG - Sgt W McLean, uninjured.

AG - Sgt W G Baron, uninjured.

In September 2010 I received an email from Mr Peter Mockler, the son of the pilot. I thank him for the information he was able to kindly provide and for correcting me on his families surname spelling. The accident record card for the incident is difficult to read and appears to show the pilots name as "Hockler" not "Mockler". Every account of this incident, including my own previous one, used this accident record card and incorrectly copied the name "Hockler" to their account. I show this information here to attempt to clarify the matter.
Little else is known of any of the crew apart from the Canadian navigator. He was born in 1921 at Hazelton, British Columbia and before enlisting into the RCAF he was formerly in the Canadian Army (but also possibly worked for a Canadian newspaper at some stage). He enlisted into the RCAF in Vancouver on 7th May 1942. After initial training in Canada he was posted to the UK and while training he survived the crash of Wellington Z9106 on the night of 6/7th November 1943 while training with 15 OTU. The Wellington was returning to Hampstead Norris after a training flight when it suffered engine failure and struck trees and then a garage near Chievely near Newbury, Berkshire. One of the crew on that occasion sadly died. P/O Sait completed his training and was later posted to 78 Squadron having been commissioned in 1943. The accident near East Heslerton with 78 Squadron took place on his first operational flight but he completed a Tour of forty operational flights (184 hours flying time) between 21st January and 26th August 1944. Hugh Halliday's research into RCAF awards has found a recommendation dated 16th September 1944, it stated that.. "he has been outstandingly successful as a navigator, and has shown his ability on many raids against the most heavily defended targets. At all times he has shown the greatest coolness in face of the enemy, and his work on operations has been of an extremely high standard, as is proved by his night photographs. He has done much to achieve the present standard of navigation on the squadron both by his work in his section and by his fine personal example. For his outstanding devotion to duty he is most strongly recommended for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross."

The DFC was granted to him on 1st December 1944 (and Gazetted on 12th December 1944) but he did not receive the award until it was posted to him in Canada in February 1950. There was no citation other than "..in recognition of gallantry and devotion to duty in the execution of air operations against the enemy."

There was also a P/O Henry Walker RAFVR (183359), also of 78 Squadron and also awarded the DFC around the same time as F/O Sait and he could well be the same airman as involved in this incident on the wold above East Heslerton. P/O Walker's DFC was Gazetted on 8th December 1944.