Hampden L6011 near Hellaby, Rotherham.
On 26th May 1942 this aircraft was one of three being flown from Jurby, on the Isle of Man to Syerston, Lincolnshire as Bomber Command had called for maximum effort for the forthcoming Thousand Bomber raid on Cologne at the end of the month and No.5 Air Observer School were instructed to supply three Hampdens and crews for "operational experience". During the flight towards Lincolnshire this Hampden suffered engine trouble and also a problem with the artificial horizon at around midnight. The pilot spotted a flare path so attempted to land on Hellaby dummy airfield but struck high tension cables on the boundary of the site and crashed at 00.15hrs. Four members of the crew were taken to Maltby police station having only suffered minor injuries, they were taken to the sick quarters of Finningley airfield. When the wreckage was investigated the body of the fifth airman was found in it. The name suggested below is currently purely a guess but as his death was registered in the Rother Valley I would suggest that this is leading to him being the correct casualty for the incident. Given that the passengers in the aircraft were too low in rank to generally be normal aircrew I would suggest that they were members of ground crew being transported to Syerston to ensure the three Hampdens were servicable prior to their use a few days later.
This aircraft was built to contract 580498/36 by Short & Harland Ltd. in Belfast but as a Handley Page Hereford. It was allotted to 6 MU on 29th September 1939 and was received by them on 9th November 1939. On 4th April 1940 it was taken on charge by 185 Squadron at Cottesmore. 185 Squadron was a designated a training squadron and on 8th April 1940 it was incorporated into 14 O.T.U. at Cottesmore. On 9th February 1941 48 MU received the aircraft and it passed to Tollerton, Service Aircraft Section (S.A.S.) on 1st April 1941. During this time at Tollerton S.A.S. the Napier Dagger engines were replaced by Bristol Pegasus engines and the aircraft was converted to a Hampden MkI. With this being complete it was issued to 44 MU and was then taken on charge on 13th July 1941 by No.5 Bombing and Gunnery School, at Jurby, Isle of Man. No.5 B.G.S. was re-designated as No.5 Air Observer School on 19th July 1941. As a result of the flying accident at Hellerby on 26th May 1942 Cat.E2/FA damage was the result of the assessment and it was written off. The aircraft was then struck off charge on 31st May 1942.
Pilot - Sgt John William Grosvenor Hodgkinson RAFVR (745476). Head injuries.
? - Sgt Parsons (or Sgt S J Carons). Minor injuries.
Passenger - LAC A Hughes. Minor injuries.
Passenger - LAC L I Alter. Minor injuries.
Passenger - LAC John Griffiths RAFVR (987282), aged 22. Buried Spennymoor (Tudhoe) Cemetery, Co.Durham.
John Hodgkinson had narrowly missed a serious accident just days earlier when, on 19th May 1942 he was flying Hampden P5301 and was landing at Jurby when the aircraft lost power while coming into land at Jurby. The aircraft flew through telephone wires and narrowly missed crashing into the officer's mess. Luckily the engines picked up speed and he managed to remain in the air, he regained control and flew a circuit of the airfield landing safely. He received a commission on 10th June 1944 to P/O on probation (177912), rising to F/O on 10th December 1944. He was awarded the DFC for service with 207 Squadron, Gazetted on 20th February 1945. Postwar he remained in the RAFVR until 15th May 1952 when he transferred to the Reserve having been promoted to F/Lt (subs). He was probably born in Derby in 1920, married in Oxford in 1948, and possibly died in Oxford in 2001.