On 6th August 1942 the crew of this 116 Squadron aircraft were engaged in calibrating anti-aircraft defence systems and was flying in the Howden area when it struck high voltage electric cables at 12.00hrs which crossed a field near the road between Boothferry Bridge and Knedlington. The aircraft is believed to have been based at Leconfield on detachment though it's parent airfield was Heston. The aircraft was flying very low just before hitting the cables and had flown through a gap in Winter's Wood from the direction of Howden Dyke. Flying at crop height as it approached the cables it lifted slightly and flew into them head on, cartwheeling and coming to rest in a dry ditch. The pilot was thrown from the aircraft in the crash but the wireless operator / air gunner remained trapped and injured in the remains of the aircraft. A local farmer, Mr John Walker, was working nearby and had witnessed the crash, he was first on the scene and rescued the wireless operator / air gunner from the wreckage. The injured airman was treated by the local doctor before being taken to York Military Hospital and treated for his serious injuries, he was later treated at East Grinstead and became a member of the Guinea Pig Club.
Lysander L4795 was built to contract 555425/36 by The Westland Aircraft Co. Ltd. at Yeovil and was awaiting collection in March 1939. It was then taken on charge shortly after by 16 Squadron who were then based at Old Sarum. It later moved with them on 16th February 1940 to Hawkinge and on 14th April 1940 with the unit to Bertrangles, France to serve there. It then became a veteran of the Battle of France. On 19th May 1940 16 Squadron withdrawn to Lympne with moves following to Redhill on 2nd June 1940, Cambridge on 29th June 1940, Okehampton on 3rd August 1940 and Weston Zoyland on 14th August 1940. On an unknown date it was transferred to Odiham for AACU duties and the unit in residence there were a detachment from 8 AACU. On 17th February 1941 116 Squadron was formed from 1 Anti-Aircraft Calibration Flight at Hatfield and the aircraft was taken on charge by them soon after. 116 Squadron moved to Hendon on 24th April 1941 and Heston on 20th April 1942 but had a detachment at Leconfield in August 1942 which L4795 was part. As a result of the crash near Howden on 6th August 1942 Cat.E2/FA damage was the assessment and it was written off.
The air gunner and his rescuer's son later became friends and through their friendship an account of the accident was recorded and displayed on this website.
Pilot - F/Lt Paul Ralph Emerson Jenkins RAF (45077), aged 25. Buried Kirkby Wharfe, Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Aubrey John Hawksworth RAFVR (1195666). Seriously injured.
Paul Jenkins was the son of Captain Ralph Emerson and Nancy Jenkins, his father was a member of the Hampshire Regiment. He and his twin brother, Michael Thomas Jenkins, were born on 22nd February 1917 in Malta and baptised on 28th February 1917 in Malta. Paul Jenkins was serving in the Army in the early part of the War but transferred to the RAF in 1940, the London Gazette records that 2nd Lt "Pain" Ralph Emerson Jenkins (The Queen's R) was granted a temporary commission in the RAF on 4th December 1940 as P/O. He was later promoted to F/O (war subs) on 4th June 1942 but there is no record in the London Gazette of him being a full F/Lt, it therefore seems likley that this was an Acting rank and Flight Magazine records his rank as F/O at the time of his death.
His twin brother also served in the RAF but had been killed two years previously on 16th June 1940 when he was serving with 223 Squadron in North Africa. He was the pilot of Wellesley L2694 on Ops to Gura and was shot down by flak. Thomas Jenkins is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial and was twenty three years old, at the time of his death his parents were living in Kensington, London. CWGC list no personal information regarding Paul Jenkins but it would be right to assume they were the same as his brother.
John Hawksworth was born on 16th December 1919 and enlisted for RAF service on 3rd October 1940. His right hand was amputated as a result of this accident and he later received treatment at East Grinstead Hospital for head injuries. He became one of the famous Guinea Pig patients who attended this hospital.
Historians Eric Barton, Albert Pritchard and Ken Reast located the landowner in August 2007 and found a few fragments of the aircraft on the surface following a field walk. These fragments included the item shown in the photograph below which includes a Westland part number. A memorial sycamore tree was planted at the crash site in 1998.
