During the evening of 4th September 1942 the crew of this 25 Operational Training Unit aircraft were tasked with flying a night cross-country training flight and they took off from Finningley airfield at 20.50hrs. During the flight the aircraft suffered an engine fire that could not be put out by the crew so the pilot ordered the crew to bale out. Three members of the crew complied with these orders before the aircraft then crashed into Grimston Park, south of Tadcaster, at 21.45hrs. Sadly the two remaining airmen in the aircraft were killed. Unfortunately the same training unit lost another aircraft on the same training exercise when Wellington DV600 crashed in Borrowdale near Keswick in the Lake District.
Wellington X3940 was built to contract B.92439/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Squires Gate, Blackpool and was awaiting collection in June 1942. It was initially received by 12 MU on 6th June 1942 and was then taken on charge by 25 Operational Training Unit at Finningley on 25th August 1942. It was destroyed in the crash near Tadcaster on 4th September 1942 with Cat.E2/FA damage being the assessment. The aircraft was then struck off charge on 10th September 1942.
Pilot - F/Sgt Dennis Arthur Green RAFVR (778629), aged 22, of Rondebosch, Cape Province, South Africa. Buried Kirkby Wharfe Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Navigator - F/Sgt Frank Edward Meers RCAF (R/82503), aged 24, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Buried Kirkby Wharfe Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Navigator - Sgt Kenneth Mitchell Perkins RCAF (R/105148), of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Walter Peter Suter RCAF (R/107415).
Rear Gunner - Sgt Edgar Perran RAFVR (798630), of Newfoundland.
Frank Meers and his grave at Kirkby Wharfe Cemetery, perhaps the most local of fatalities who were buried in this small plot used by Church Fenton airfield to bury their dead. He was born on 18th June 1918 at Guelph, Ontario, Canada to William and Alice (nee Allport) Meers. Both his parents were born in Nottingham, England but had emigrated to Canada but sadly his father died when he was young and his mother appears to have re-married William Gordon and moved to Ottawa. Frank then appears to have been known by his mother's new surname of Gordon but does not appear to have ever changed his name so served under his birth surname of Meers. He enlisted for RCAF service on 9th January 1941 in Ottawa for aircrew duties and after training in Canada he was awarded his air observer's flying badge on 20th December 1941. He arrived in the UK in early 1942 and would traing at 3 A.O.S. before posting to 25 O.T.U. on 16th June 1942.
Dennis Green's grave in the same cemetery at Kirkby Wharfe. The black and white photograph is courtesy Plumtree School Archives (via Paul Allonby). Dennis Green was the son of the Rev Harry Green, and Mrs Eveline Green. He was privately-educated at Plumtree School, Matabeleland (now Zimbabwe) and then attended Wits University in Johannesburg before enlisting in the RAF.
Kenneth Perkins was born on 25th April 1920 at Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was the son of George Albert and Marion Averil (nee Mitchell) Perkins. After attending school he studied at a business college before starting work as a clerk for a company in Toronto. He enlisted for RCAF service on 20th May 1941 in Toronto and after training in Canada he was awarded his air observers flying badge on 3rd January 1942. While training in Canada he married Dorothy Ellen Griffiths in Toronto on 5th July 1941. On arrival in the UK he also trained at 3 AOS. He was posted to 25 OTU on 16th June 1942 and would then complete his training here to be posted to 1654 HCU on 31st October 1942. With this training complete he was posted to 44 Squadron on 23rd December 1942. WO2 Perkins was flying in 44 Squadron Lancaster ED309 on 8th February 1943 on an operational flight to Lorient when the aircraft failed to return to base. He was twenty two years old. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. He left a young son whon he never met, who was born just two days before this incident near Tadcaster and who died in July 2017.
Walter Suter completed his training and was posted to 427 Squadron where he flew a Tour of operations before then serving as an instructor with 1659 Heavy Conversion Unit. He later returned to operational flying with 419 Squadron having received a commission on 11th July 1943. Post-War he returned to Canada before emigrating to Washington State, USA where he died in December 2000.
Edgar Perran was born in St.John's, Newfoundland in 1923. After completing his training with 25 Operational Training Unit he was posted out of Bomber Command and joined 201 Squadron who flew Sunderlands. He was involved in the sinking of U-Boat U-107 on 18th August 1944.
I credit Paul Allonby with additional information on the survivors of Wellington X3940 shown above.