Wellington W5492 near Pocklington.
On 18th September 1941 this aircraft was being given a routine wireless airtest and while flying at over 5,000ft the dinghy came away from it's stowage and wrapped around the elevators. The pilot lost control and the aircraft went into a steep and fast dive, then broke up in the air and exploded, it was likely that as a result of the pilot attempting to pull the aircraft out of the dive the stresses on the airframe were too great and it broke up. Wreckage fell around Northfield Farm to the north of Pocklington and all eight on board lost their lives as a result of this accident, it was worst that Pocklington had suffered to this date in the War, perhaps magnified by the fact a number of ground personnel had gone up for a ride. Sadly the body of one of the crew never found at the crash site and he is one of only a handful lost in Yorkshire to be commemerated on the Runnymede Memorial, a memorial with over 55,000 names of air force personnel who have no known grave.
Pilot - Sgt Ronald George Chandos RAFVR (950324), aged 25, of Glasgow. Buried Eastwood Cemetery, Glasgow.
Pilot - Sgt Norman Watson Thompson RNZAF (402914), aged 24, of Nelson, New Zealand. Buried Barmby Moor Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Observer - Sgt Frederick Peter Turton RAFVR (937811), aged 26, of Finchfield, Staffordshire. Buried Barmby Moor Churchyard, Yorkshire.
? - Sgt Gabriel Phillips RAFVR (976646), aged ? Body never found and commemerated on the Runnymede Memorial.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Charles Harold Fletcher RAFVR (1165250), aged 29, of Bulwell, Nottingham. Buried Nottingham Northern Cemetery.
Air Gunner - Sgt James Matthew Maxon RCAF (R/54040), aged 33, of Galesburg, Illinois, USA. Buried Barmby Moor Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Walter Irvine Strother RAFVR (755999), aged 28, of Carleton, Blackpool, Lancashire. Buried Barmby Moor Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Ground Crew - AC1 Harry Armitage RAFVR (1039943), aged 32, of Guisley, Yorkshire. Buried Otley Cemetery, Yorkshire.
James Maxon was the son of the Bishop of Tennessee, he is commemerated by a stained glass window in Memphis Cathedral, Tennessee.
Prior to enlisting in the RCAF he had attended Columbia University and then worked in the newspaper industry and for a time
worked for President Roosevelts White House press relations staff. He the time of his death he was married and his wife lived in Detroit.
Three other gravestones at Barmby Moor churchyard.
I was kindly contacted by Mrs Wendy Lawrence in December 2011, she was able to add that the pilot, Ronald Chandos, was probably married to her husband's grandmother.
He was born on 5th February 1916 in Glasgow and has trained as a pilot possibly as far back as 1937 in Scotland.
The book "Pocklington at War" by Jim and Margaret Ainscough includes this incident and I would recommend anyone with an interest in Wartime Pocklington to this book.