Halifax MZ828 at Skipton on Swale
On the 5th August 1944 the crew of this aircraft were tasked with a daylight trip to bomb flying bomb launch sites
at St-Leu-d'Esserent, north of Paris, and they took off from Skipton on Swale at 10.38hrs. Over the target the aircraft was hit by flak in the
starboard outer engine which badly damaged it and the propeller had to be feathered. The crew managed to return to Yorkshire and were about to
land at their home airfield when the pilot pulled out of their first approach to land opting to go around again for another approach. While
the aircraft was attempting to go around the undercarriage was raised but the flaps would not go up - normal precedure was to lower the flaps
to slow the aircraft for landing but to raise them when normal flying or climbing. The pilot applied full power to try and stop the aircraft from
stalling in the air but the starboard inner engine then failed and with a combination of full power on the port side, it entered a sharp uncontrolled
turn to starboard which took the aircraft over Skipton on Swale village. The aircraft lost height and clipped trees and then the top of Skipton Hall before
striking a large elm tree on the village green at 13.35hrs. This tree stopped the aircraft and most of the aircraft remained within the village green are but unfortunately a
small boy was killed by parts of the aircraft which were thrown into his garden in which he was playing. Two members of the crew were killed in the crash while
the remaining five airmen had taken to their crash positions and escaped with injuries.
Also of interest is that this crew's regular rear gunner Sgt Ray Beaudette had been on sick leave as he was
recovering from injuries that he and his pilot has sustained in a motorcycle accident some weeks before. His
pilot had only just returned to operational flying but was having trouble in operating the Halifax's rudder
controls having suffered ankle injuries. Ray Beaudette was still attending hospital appointments and
was stood near the telephone box on the village green waiting for an ambulance to take him to Northallerton hospital when
he saw the aircraft was about to crash and was able to run clear. It was only after the crash that he found that it was
his own crew had crashed and he found himself been taken to Northallerton hospital with those injured in the aircraft crash.
Pilot - F/O James R Harrison RCAF (J/21448), aged ? Of Crossfield,Alberta, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
F Eng - Sgt Dennis L Whitbread RAFVR (1624919), aged 22, of Kempston. Buried Kempston, Bedfordshire.
Nav - F/O James F Kinder RCAF, of Preston. Seriously injured
BA - F/O Edwin T Widenoja RCAF, of Port Arthur. Seriously injured. Died 2000 Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
WOp/AG - F/O Lorne E Dufresne RCAF, of Sturgeon Falls. Injured.
MUG - F/O Alan Bourne RCAF, injured.
RG - P/O N S Godfrey RAF, injured.
Civilian - Master Kenneth Battensby, aged 5. Killed, Buried Skipton on Swale Churchyard, Yorkshire.
James Harrison and his gravestone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.
Perhaps one of the youngest civilians to lose their lives as a result
of an air accident in Yorkshire was five year old Kenneth Battensby. He
is buried in Skipton on Swale churchyard.
The scene of the crash.
The site today.
A memorial stone and plaque was dedicated at the crash site in 1984 and the surviving Canadian members of this crew were able to attend the service.
The rear gunner of the aircraft was the only member on this aircraft not to attend the service as I believe he could not be traced. He was a "spare" gunner
used as a stand-in when regular air gunners were not able to fly with their crews.
This accident was covered in great detail by Bill Norman in a superb article
for Flypast magazine in December 2008. Mr Norman also had also included an
equally well-written account in his "Failed to Return" book.