On 17th November 1942 the crew of this 219 Squadron aircraft were undertaking a night-time ground controlled interception exercise and were carrying a passenger who was a ground radio officer testing radio equipment. They took off from Scorton airfield at 21.05hrs and carried out the exercise and were returning to base at 21.30hrs with the crew reporting that one of the engines had a problem. The crew informed their base of this and were allowed to land. As they made an approach to land at Scorton the pilot realised that aircraft was going to undershoot, the investigation believed that he attempted to pull the aircraft up but was too low and the aircraft landed short. It made a heavy landing in a field near Scorton Railway Station but then continued across the field, struck a tree with the starboard wing and then struck the railway embankment, crossed the railway line and broke up in the field at the far side of the line. The wreckage caught fire and all three in the aircraft were killed.
Beaufighter X8202 was built to contract B.65570/40 by The Bristol Aeroplane Company Ltd. at Old Mixon, Weston-Super-Mare and was awaiting collection in June 1942. It was taken on charge by 219 Squadron at Acklington shortly after completion and moved to Scorton with them on 21st October 1942. As a result of this accident on 17th November 1942 Cat.E2/FA Burnt damage was the result of the damage assessment and it was written off.
Pilot - P/O Evelyn Creen Stuart Wilson-Steele RAFVR (130855), aged 27, of Farnham. Buried Farnham Cemetery, Surrey (B/1079).
Navigator / Wireless Operator - F/Sgt Harold Joseph Beswick RAFVR (1058967), aged 33, of Birkenhead. Buried Landican Cemetery, Birkenhead, Cheshire (CofE/2/535).
Passenger / Radio Officer - F/O Thomas Robert Brownfield RCAF (C/7176), aged 22, of Norwood, Alberta, Canada. Buried Catterick Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Evelyn Wilson-Steele was born in Taunton, Somerset in 1915 and was the son of Rev. John Wilson-Steele and Hilda Gladys Skingle. He married Alice Stratford in Surrey in Summer 1941. He received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 28th August 1942. In the London Gazette he was promoted in error to F/O on 28th February 1943 but this was cancelled in June 1943 after it was realised he was already dead. His father Rev. Wilson-Steele died in 1936 in Irbey, Wirral, Cheshire while his mother died in 1974. The CWGC database lists second Christian name as being "Creen" where as his marriage and death registrations both give the initial as "G" suggesting it was actually "Green". This was confirmed as being "Creen" by close relations in an email to me in November 2020. Creen being his grandmother's maiden name.
Thomas Brownfield was born on 12th October 1920 in Brownfield, Alberta, Canada and was the son of Charles Dee and Rachel (nee Sturrock) Brownfield. His parents were both born in the USA but moved to Canada before Thomas was born. The family later moved to Norwood, Manitoba. As a young man he trained at a radio telegraphy school and worked as a radio technician. He enlisted for RCAF service in Winnipeg on 5th September 1941 and as he was already trained as a wireless technician he was soon passed through basic training in that trade. He arrived in the UK in late 1941 and had served with 141 Squadron and 51 OTU before posting to 219 Squadron on 2nd July 1942.
After obtaining permission from the landowners, historians Ken Reast, Albert Pritchard and Eric Barton located small fragments at the crash site in February 1999 to confirm the crash location. The photograph above shows small fragments that Eric retained following the visit.