On 22nd September 1942 this 460 Conversion Flight aircraft took off from Holme on Spalding Moor airfield for a day time training exercise and during the exercise the instructor was demonstrating the effects of rudder stall (a problem which the early Halifax's suffered from). At 10.12hrs the aircraft was allowed to enter the stall but control was lost and was not recovered, the aircraft crashed near Middle Farm, Catterton, Tadcaster with the loss of the four airmen on board. As a result this accident this form of training was struck off the syllabus at Heavy Conversion courses. The pupil pilot and the rear gunner were 460 Squadron personnel converting to flying four engined bombers.
Pilot - F/O John William Purcivall DFC RNZAF (NZ.401031), aged 30, of New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Pupil Pilot - F/Lt John Alexander Falkiner RAAF (400952), aged 24, of Widgiewa, New South Wales, Australia. Buried Wooton St.Lawrence Churchyard, Hampshire.
Flight Engineer - Sgt Leslie Horace Jones RAF (646858), aged 30, of Woodlands, Doncaster. Buried Adwick-le-Street Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Rear Gunner - F/Sgt Reginald George Cox RAAF (402589), aged 27, of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Halifax W1272 was built to contract B.982938/39 by English Electric Co.Ltd. at Samlesbury and was taken on charge as new by 460 Conversion Flight at Holme on Spalding Moor on 23rd August 1942. As a result of the crash on 22nd September 1942 it was destroyed with Cat.E2/FA Burnt damage being the damage assessment. It was struck off charge on 25th September 1942.
John Purcivall and his grave in Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. He was awarded the DFC for service with 103 Squadron, Gazetted on 23rd September 1941.
Reg Cox's gravestone in Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Leslie Jones' grave at Adwick le Street.
John Alexander Falkiner was the pilot of Wellington Z1249 which was slightly damaged at Breighton airfield on 14th May 1942; an incident detailed on this website. He was born on 6 July 1918 in Caulfield, Melbourne, Victoria and was the son of Otway and Una Falkiner. Otway’s father Franc Sadleir Falkiner was born in Tipperary, Ireland, where his family had been pioneers in the Irish woollen industry. Franc S. Falkiner migrated to the Australian goldfields in 1854 to avoid, as third son, becoming an Anglican minister. Franc set up F.S. Falkiner & Sons Ltd, a company owning a number of grazing properties where he and his five Australian-born sons bred Merino sheep. The Falkiner family became major players in the Merino stud industry in Australia from the 1880s onwards. I thank Mr Neil Smith for kindly supplying the photograph of F/Lt Falkiner's gravestone.