Halifax JB863 near Heslington, York.
This aircraft took off from Elvington at 22.04hrs on the night of the 19th of June 1943 to set out on Ops to Le Creusot, France
to bomb the Schneider factory. Immediately after becoming airborne the aircraft swung to starboard having climbed to 300 feet.
It then sideslipped into the ground two minutes after leaving the airfield and only two miles from the end of
the runway. The aircraft was destroyed and the crew stood little chance of survival. The crash was attributed
to the failure of the starboard inner engine.
In the 1950s the site was cleared of its bomb load which one assumes had buried itself at the time of the crash.
Pilot - F/Sgt Norman R Holledge RAFVR (1331061), aged 22, of Hornchurch. Buried Hornchurch Cemetery, Essex.
FEng - Sgt Albert H Gurry RAFVR (1284804), aged 22, of Ilford. Buried Ilford Churchyard, Essex.
BA - F/Sgt William Cooke RAFVR (1339096), aged 21, of Winsdor. Buried Windsor Cemetery, Berkshire.
Nav - F/O Arnold W S Young RAFVR (130565), aged ? Of Kenton, London. Buried Wembley (Alperton) Burial Ground, London.
WOp/AG - Sgt Francis Danby RAFVR (1310902), aged 26, of Liverpool. Buried Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool.
MUG - Sgt Desmond H Clinch RAFVR (1352806), aged ? Of Wales. Buried Caerphilly (Penyrheol) Cemetery, Wales.
RG - Sgt Ronald E MacDonald RCAF (R/131442), aged 20 Of ? Buried at Pocklington Burial Ground, Yorkshire.
Ronald MacDonald's grave in Pocklington.
The memorial sited on Fulford Golf Course.
I visited the site in September 2008 with fellow air historians Ken Reast, David Thompson, Albert Pritchard and Dick Barton. Our time at
the site was limited due to a heavy thunder storm but it was long enough to find a scatter of peices of the aircraft to determine where it came down, and infact this is
all the we ever wish to do on such visits. Any deeper investigations need an MoD licence but should this ever be required then the site
in now confirmed as being where it was found. The site is today close to the main A64 York by-pass. We also visited the memorial to the crew located on Fulford Golf Course. Thanks to Mr Hawkswell, the landowner for letting us visit the site and for the
help he was able to provide. The photograph above shows the general area of the crash whilst the peice below (although hard to make out) shows a
Halifax part number with the prefix "59" refering to a part for the MkII Halifax variant along with an "EEP" English Electric Preston
inspection stamp, that being the factory that JB863 was made.
Francis Danby had lost a younger brother Alan on 27th June 1942, serving with 405 Squadron. He and his crew were
killed when Halifax W1175 crashed off the Dutch coast. One of the crew were washed ashore and is buried in Holland.
The remaining six of this crew are commemerated on the Runnymede Memorial.
Arnold Young received his commission on 5th September 1942 to P/O on probation (emergency), rising to F/O on probation (war subs) on 5th March 1943.
