During the evening of 7th November 1942 this 25 Squadron aircraft was being flown on an operational patrol when the port engine began emitting sparks from a faulty exhaust manifold. The aircraft's port engine then caught fire though the pilot then shut it down and feathered the propeller. At this stage the aircraft was roughly in the Beverley area and the pilot initially continued to fly west back toward Church Fenton where it was based but he was then ordered to divert and land at the nearer Pocklington airfield. The pilot attempted to restart the port engine but the sparks returned so he shut it down again. Pocklington lit up their airfield lighting. A short time later and as the Beaufighter neared Pocklington the pilot noticed Melbourne airfield and attempted a landing there instead. On the approach to land the aircraft lost too much height, it then stalled and a wing tip struck the ground. It then crashed beside the canal near Bielby and caught fire. The navigator had a very lucky escape and was thrown clear and was taken to hospital with burns and a broken pelvis. The pilot was sadly killed and the aircraft was destroyed in the crash and a subsequent fire. The investigation that resulted stated that the pilot should have been able to fly the Beaufighter back to Church Fenton on one engine without any difficulties, he had also received extra training on single engine flying after making a forced landing near Thirsk in August 1942 following a port engine failure.
A superb memorial was dedicated at the crash site in 2011 but unfortunately incorrectly states that the navigator died of his injuries following this crash at Bielby, this was not the case; he recovered and returned to active service but was killed in another crash in 1943 at Airmyn, near Goole (as detailed below).
Pilot - Sgt Michael Harold Griffith RAFVR (1171174), aged 20, of Torquay, Devon. Buried Barmby Moor Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Navigator / Radar Operator - Sgt Gerald Henry Wheatland RAFVR (1338437), parents of Hounslow, London. Seriously injured.
The memorial at the crash site near Bielby and the area where the aircraft must have crashed. Beaufighter X7698 was built to contract B.65570/40 by The Bristol Aeroplane Co. Ltd. at Old Mixon, Weston supper Mare and was awaiting collection in August 1941. It first served with 219 Squadron at Tangmere who then moved to Acklington on 23rd June 1942. On 17th August 1942 it was transferred to 25 Squadron at Church Fenton. As a result of the crash on 7th November 1942 the damage was assessed as being Cat.E2/FA Burnt and it was written off.
Michael Griffith was born on 26th April 1922 at Torquay, Devon to Dr Harold and Mrs Helena Griffith. He was educated at Beaudesert Park in Gloucestershire and Wellington College in Berkshire. He enlisted for RAF service on 8th July 1940. He had survived the crash landing of Beaufighter X7706 near Thirsk on 9th August 1942 and was almost certainly in Oxford AP498 which crashed near Church Fenton on 18th April 1942 (both incidents are covered on this website). Michael Griffith's father was Major Harold Kinder Griffith TD, MB, FRCS, Royal Army Medical Corps (Territorial Army) was awarded the French "Medaille de la Reconnaissance Francaise" En Bronse in March 1926. He is recorded on the internet as living at Roydon, Asheldon Road, Torquay. He was born in 1886 and died in 1966. Michael's grandfather Walter Spencer Anderson Griffith was a holder of the CBE.
I thank Michael Griffith's niece Vanessa for contacting me in January 2014 and for kindly supplying the photograph of her uncle shown above and for allowing this series of photographs showing his funeral to be shown here. His parents and other family members attended the funeral which was documented by the official photographer at Pocklington airfield who later supplied copies to his family.
Gerald Wheatland was born in the Aston area of Warwickshire on 7th March 1922 and enlisted for RAF service on 4th June 1941. Sgt Wheatland recovered from his injuries and returned to 25 Squadron but died on 8th April 1943 when Mosquito DD747 broke up in the air and crashed in West Park, Airmyn, near Goole, Yorkshire. He was twenty one years old and his buried at Heston Churchyard, Middlesex.
The Church Fenton station record book entry for the accident at Bielby listed above in which Wheatland was injured.
The Church Fenton station record book entry for the accident near Goole in which he sadly lost his life.