On the night of 22nd / 23rd October 1943 the crew of this 427 Squadron aircraft took off from Leeming airfield at 17.25hrs to carry out operational orders to bomb Kassel. Outbound the port outer engine suffered a coolant leak and began to overheat so the engine was shut down and the propeller was feathered. This in itself occurring outbound would have probably given the crew little option but to abandon the flight and return to base though it would have been able to be flown reasonably on three good engines. As they were flying over the Tadcaster area the port inner engine had oil leak and began to fail, unfortunately it was later believed that the starboard inner engine was then shut down and the propeller feathered by mistake. Effectively then having to fly on just one engine before the error was corrected the aircraft lost height, it struck a tree near Newton Kyme, west of Tadcaster and at 21.15hrs crashed into the edge of a small wood. The aircraft was completely destroyed and all on board were sadly killed with many being found in the crash position suggesting they were awaiting a forced landing. The nearby up railway line was blocked by the crashed aircraft and the down line was also blocked when a fire engine drove along it to access to the burning aircraft but then broke down. Severe icing conditions were also suspected to have effected the general control of the aircraft on this night.
Pilot - W/O Douglas Harold Welch RAFVR (1318580), aged 22, of Ampthill. Buried Ampthill Churchyard, Bedfordshire.
Flight Engineer - Sgt John Henry Procter RAFVR (1123963), aged 19, of West Hartlepool. Buried Stranton Cemetery, Hartlepool, Durham.
Navigator - Sgt Edward John Dutton RAFVR (1393374), aged 22, of Norbury. Buried Croyden Cemetery, Surrey.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Kenneth Alfred Brown RAFVR (1803924), aged 20, of Lee. Buried Lee Churchyard, Buckinghamshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Peter John Moore RAFVR (1450860), aged 21. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Air Gunenr - Sgt James Irvine McCullagh RAFVR (1061413), aged 25, of Springfield. Buried Devenish CoI Churchyard, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.
Air Gunner - Sgt Desmond Owen Collen RAFVR (1354131), aged 21, of Isleham. Buried Isleham Cemetery, Cambridgeshire.
Peter Moore's grave at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.
Douglas Welch had only married a week previously.