On 11th November 1942 this 425 Squadron aircraft was being used with a crew of three for a basic circuits and landings training exercise. With the weather deteriorating the pilot had made several attempts to land at Dishforth without success and flying control at Dishforth had been unable to make contact the aircraft to instruct them to divert to another airfield. The aircraft left Dishforth almost certainly with the intension of going around again for another attempt to land, during this fly around the aircraft crashed into trees near Copt Hewick Hall and exploded at 21.30hrs with the loss of three airmen in the aircraft. The rear turret was being occupied by the wireless operator so he was unable to hear or respond to any message sent to the aircraft instructing them to divert. William Chorley's Bomber Command losses book for the year and other subsequent accounts of this accident lists this aircraft as returning from a mine laying operational flight when the accident occurred but this is not correct as the RAF's Form 1180, AM765c and the squadron ORB gives the true purpose for the flight as being the training exercise as stated above. These other accounts speculate that the squadron records were incorrectly recorded in the fact that they did not record the other names of airmen involved. The AM1180 and AM765c list only three killed with no others injured which would infer that these three were the only three in the aircraft. The ORB also gives the location as being east of Luken House.
Pilot - F/Sgt Joseph Armand Larche RCAF (R/95499), aged 27, of Transcona, Manitoba, Canada. Buried Dishforth Cemetery, Yorkshire (grave 33).
Navigator / Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt Mervin Funk RCAF (R/87427), aged 22, of Drake, Saskatchewan, Canada. Buried Dishforth Cemetery, Yorkshire (grave 36).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt William Sokol RCAF (R/106059), aged 22, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Buried Dishforth Cemetery, Yorkshire (grave 32).
Joseph 'Armand' Larche was born on 16th April 1918, he was the son of Alfred Leon and Louisa (nee Lauthier) Larche, of Transcona, Manitoba, Canada. In 1938 he began worked as a chemist's apprentice for the Norwood Drug Company in Transcona. He was still working for this company when he enlisted for RCAF service on 13th March 1941 in Winnipeg and trained as a pilot. He was awarded his Wings on 27th February 1942 and was posted overseas soon after. On arrival in the UK in March 1942 he later trained at 15 (P)AFU and 23 OTU before posting to 425 Squadron on 7th October 1942.
Mervin Funk was born on 24th April 1919 and was the son of Jacob Herbert and Anna (nee Remple) Funk, of Drake, Saskatchewan, Canada. His parents had moved to Drake from Kansas, USA to open Drake's first hardware store in 1908. As a young man he worked as a truck driver and as a clerk in his father's store, in November 1940 he began an aeronautical course until enlisting for RCAF service on 28th February 1941 in Saskatoon. On 14th March 1942 he was awarded his Air Observer badge after training in Canada and was posted overseas the following month. On arrival in the UK he later trained at 3 AFU and 23 OTU before posting to 425 Squadron on 7th October 1942. Following his death the Funk Lake in Saskatchewan is named in his honour. His brother Orlando Funk also served in the RCAF.
William Sokol was born on 6th January 1920, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and was the son of Mytro and Pearl (nee Lewkovoyz) Sokol. His parents were born in Galicia which was then part of Austria but emigrated to Canada. As a young man William worked for a woodworker for an upholstery firm in Winnipeg. He enlisted for RCAF service in Winnipeg on 14th May 1941 and trained as a wireless operator / air gunner in Canada. Having gained his air gunner's flying badge on 16th March 1942 he was posted to the UK in May 1942. After training at No.4 S.S., 1 A.F.U., and 23 OTU he was posted to 425 Squadron. His two brothers also served overseas during the Second World War.
Wellington BJ846 was built by Vickers at Chester and was received by 48 MU at Hawarden on 20th June 1942. It was taken on charge by 425 Squadron at Dishforth on 19th August 1942. As a result of the crash near Ripon on 11th November 1942 Cat.E2/FA damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge days later on 24th November 1942.
In February 1999 historians Eric Barton, Albert Pritchard and Ken Reast have confirmed the crash location by finding small remains of the aircraft in woodland near Copt Hewick Hall with permission from the landowner.