A Wellington MkX.

On the 23rd of March 1944 this Wellington took off from Silverstone for an evening cross country training exercise at 19.15hrs. The aircraft flew north. Whilst over the Northallerton area control of the aircraft was lost after the port engine failed and the aircraft went into a dive, whilst trying the pull the aircraft out of the dive the aircraft began to break up and the aircraft crashed into the ground at a near verticle angle at 21.05 hrs. All six airmen were killed in the crash. It was found that none had their parachutes attached prior to the crash. There was no sign of a fire other than that which occured as a result of the crash. The three Commonwealth airmen were buried at Harrogate with RAF Leeming's Padre officiating.

Pilot - F/O Edward N J Thomson RNZAF, aged 21, Titirangi, Auckland, New Zealand. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.

Nav - F/Sgt Bertram J Jones RAAF, aged 21, of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.

? - Sgt David L Watson RAAF, aged 20, of East St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. Born 2/9/1923, he was a law student prewar and enlisted in Melbourne, his father Major C E Watson MC died of illness while CO AMC Tng between 1916-18.

W Op/ Air Gunner - Sgt Ernest P Moore RAFVR, aged 20, of Portslade, Sussex, buried Portslade Cemetery.

Air Gunner - Sgt Dennis G Stephens RAFVR, aged 19, of Stand, Lancashire, buried Stand Churchyard. He had until recently been an ATC member.

Air Gunner - Sgt Benjamin Woodhead RAFVR, aged 21, of Lower Broughton, Salford, Lancs. Buried Salford Agecroft Cemetery.

F/Sgt Bertram Jones. My thanks to Mr Peter Jones of Australia for this photograph of his uncle. Bertram was married to Olive Jones and they lived at Kensington, New South Wales. His parents however lived in Sydney. He was born on the 23rd of December 1922, prior to enlisting he was a welfare officer, he enlisted in Sydney on the 17th August 1942.

These photographs show the general area for where the aircraft is thought to have crashed.

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Mr Chorley's OTU Losses book makes note to a document on the crash in which structural failure resulted in the aircraft entering a near verticle dive.

Following a phone call to an Wartime Osmotherley resident I had in 2004, he stated that an unknown type of aircraft had (possibly) clipped the ground on Thimbleby Moor, near the Chequers Inn, had not crashed but had kept flying and loosing peices as it went, only to crash in vertually the exact same place as where this Wellington crash is described as happening. I therefore an linking the two until otherwise corrected (but possibly leaving out the clipping of the ground on Thimbleby Moor).