Lancaster W4319 at Dormanstown, Middlesbrough.
On the night of 17th / 18th December 1942 the crew of this 101 Squadron aircraft set out from Holme-on-Spalding Moor airfield to undertake a mine laying operational flight to the waters around the Heligoland area. This was the only 101 Squadron aircraft detailed to undertake this task. Six mines were dropped without incident but on their return crossing of the North Sea the weather was very bad, with 10/10ths cloud was reported. With the cloud base all the way down to sea level in places the aircraft drifted off course and ended up to far north by the time they reached land fall. At the same time as this aircraft was returning to Yorkshire the Luftwaffe were making an attack on York (which would see two of their aircraft crash on the North Yorkshire Moors on the same night - and detailed on this website). As well as this attack on York, enemy aircraft were also operating further north, incendiaries were dropped on a Starfish Decoy site at New Marske. A short time later bombs were dropped near New Marske, at around the same time as this Lancaster crossed the coastline near Warrenby Ironworks. By this stage in the flight the Lancaster's IFF transmitting device had ceased to work, or was not switched on, and as a result the radar operators on the ground could not tell the Lancaster was a friendly aircraft and given that they knew attacks were being made by enemy aircraft at the time assumed it to be hostile. Flying over the Warrenby Ironworks at around 250 feet the Bofur guns sited at the plant could hardly miss. Several hits were scored on the Lancaster which eyewitnesses describe as quite literally blowing it out of the sky. The majority of the aircraft crashed near what is now Steel House, Dormanstown at 22.10hrs. The airmen on board did not stand a chance, they sadly were all killed. Immediately after the crash a message was sent from Redcar to 6 Group control stating that they thought they had shot down an enemy aircraft, it was only later that this was found to be incorrect and the truth of what had happened been discovered. Thankfully this kind of incident was not common, I believe it to be unique to the North of England with regard the aircraft type.
Lancaster W4319 was built by A.V. Roe Ltd at Manchester to contract B69274/40 and was delivered directly to 101 Squadron at Holme on Spalding Moor on 21st October 1942. The AM Form 78 states it suffered Cat.E2(Burnt) damage on 18th December 1942. It was struck off charge on 23rd December 1942 with just 17 hours flying time to it's credit.
Pilot - Sgt Marcel Alec Fussell RAFVR (1316055), aged 20, of Dorchester. Buried Dorchester, Dorset.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Sydney Stewart McLean RNZAF (404392), aged 29, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Flight Engineer - Sgt Jack Worsnop RAF (568572), aged 23, of Bradford. Buried Bradford, Yorkshire.
Navigator - Sgt Monte Alan Gray McIntyre RNZAF (405298), aged 29, of Gisborne, Auckland, New Zealand. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Michael James O'Malley RNZAF (413278), aged 21, of Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt George John Warren RAFVR (1292464), aged 19, of Dagenham, Essex. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Rear Gunner - Sgt Gregory Manuel Georges RCAF (R/117661), aged 22, of Whitman, Massachusetts, USA. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
No account of this incident would be complete without drawing the reader to Bill Norman's "Failed to Return" book in which this incident appears in detail. Mr Norman and Mr David Morris were behind a memorial being erected close to the crash site on 18th December 2008. The plaque is sited on the Lord McGowan Bridge.
Monte McIntyre and his headstone at Thornaby Cemetery. (Photo and additional information kindly provied by Mr Ben Poynter, of Napier, New Zealand). Monte’s parents and Mr Poynter's parents were great friends. In 1918 at the end of WW1 New Zealand (like the UK) had a flu epidemic with quite a loss of life including Monte’s mother. He was then about five and an only child it would have been difficult for his father to bring him up so he lived with Mr Poynter's grandparents, who were dairy farmers in Gisborne. They already had a son and five daughters so one more was no problem for them. The 1930’s depression was a tough time for him, with very little employment. For a time he lived with Mr Poynter's parents on a dairy farm in Waihi, but for no wages, just his keep. When he joined the RNZAF in July 1940 his occupation was given as “Medical Attendant, Seaview Mental Hospital, Hokitika". He started training as a pilot but then remustered as an Air Observer. Mr Poynter's memory of him was when he stayed with us on final leave, he was about six and half years old at the time and he helped him understand early arithmetic which he was struggling with at the time. He left New Zealand for Canada in July 1941 and on to England in February 1942 to finish his training. (It is odd that CWGC list him as a wireless operator / air gunner, and as a result the aircraft appears to have had no navigator, CWGC appear to have made a error in Monte's case). His service records state that "On the night of 17th December 1942, Sgt Mcintyre was the Navigator of a Lancaster aircraft which took off on a minelaying operation in the Baltic sea and crashed near Grangetown, Yorkshire. The aircraft completely disintegrated and it was difficult to identify the crew”.
Marcel Fussell (pictured above) was a chorister in the Salisbury Cathedral School Choir as a boy and his name appears on a plaque in Salisbury Cathedral. I thank Lucy Padget for the photographs shown above and for the additional information she was able to provide this account. On 5th December 1942 he was at the control of Lancaster R5482 when it collided with a bomb trolley at Holme on Spalding Moor causing minor damage to the aircraft. On 15th December 1942 he was at the controls of Lancaster ED328 at Holme on Spalding Moor airfield when the tail wheel mounting cracked because of a common problem with them at that time.
Sgt Michael O'Malley RNZAF and his gravestone.
Sgt Sydney McLean RNZAF and his gravestone.
Gregory Georges was born on 18th June 1920 in Whitman, Massachuesetts, USA and was the son of Angelo and Angeline Elizabeth (nee Burrows) Georges. His father was born in Serbia but emigrated to the USA as a young man while his mother was born in Massachusetts, USA. As a young man Gregory worked as a truck driver for an agricultural chemical company in Whitman. He enlisted for RCAF service on 23rd July 1941 in Montreal, Canada and trained as an air gunner, receiving his air gunner's badge on 8th June 1942. He was then posted overseas in July 1942. He trained at No.7 Air Gunnery School before posting to 101 Squadron on 6th October 1942. His brother Vincent C Georges served in the Canadian forces during WW2.
George Warren's gravestone at Thornaby Cemetery.
I do not know the exact location of where the aircraft crashed but it must have crashed onto the area shown on this photograph, taken from the Eston Hills.
This crew listing appears slightly different elsewhere. McIntyre is quoted as being the wireless operator (which his headstone shows), Warren as navigator and O'Malley as air gunner. McIntyre's service records have him down as a navigator.
