Halifax NP805 at East Moor airfield.
During the early afternoon of 16th April 1945 this aircraft was to have been flown on a cross country training flight, at 12.10hrs the aircraft was using the runway at East Moor starting from the end of the runway at the north-east end of the airfield and would have taken off over the south-west end to fly over Goose Wood. As the aircraft picked up speed it began a swing to starboard, the pilot over-corrected this and it swung to port and off the runway, this was again over-corrected and it swung to starboard again, this swing was again overcorrected and then swung off to port but did not slow down. The aircraft then ran across the grass, over the perimeter track and through the boundary hedge, as it crossed the Strensall Road it narrowly missed a member of aircrew on the road on his bike who dived into the ditch next to the road. The aircraft went over the top of the ditch which removed the undercarriage and it skidded into the edge of the Goose Wood airfield building complex and caught fire. On the edge of Goose Wood was a picket post and sadly two members of airfield ground crew either in the building or sunbathing on the roof and were killed. The pilot of the aircraft was the third victim of this crash, he had either died or become unconsious when the aircraft struck the picket post and had fallen forward onto the controls. While his crew managed to scramble clear and survive, his flight engineer attempted to free him but was forced to give up and escape the fire when the flames became too severe and he himself suffered burns to his hands, face and legs. It was later found that the control locks were still in place on the aircraft and they should have been removed prior to the crew attempting to take off. This was the final fatal flying accident in Yorkshire during the Second World War.
Pilot - F/O William Howard Porritt RCAF (J/86081), aged 25, of Cookstown, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Fitter - LAC Joseph Donat Marcel Bedard RCAF (R/177118) , aged 20, of Lac aux Sables, Portneuf Co, Quebec, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Armourer - LAC Regis Fernand Charbonneau RCAF (R/268734), aged 19, of St Augustin des Deux Montagnes, Quebec, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Flight Engineer - Sgt Kenneth McEwen Davidson RCAF (R/288750), seriously injured. He spent two years in hospital with burns, at East Grinstead and with what became known as the Guinea Pig Club.
Air Gunner - F/O Leonard Raymond Jorgenson RCAF (J/46220), of Morris, Manitoba, Canada. Injured.
Air Gunner - F/O James Percy Grey RCAF (J/45212). Injured.
Air Bomber - F/O William Murray Reid RCAF (J/40936). Injured. Serious burns.
Wireless Operator - Sgt Edward Cohen RCAF (R/183422). Injured.
Navigator - F/O John Henry Burns RCAF (J/43596. Injured hand.
William Porritt was born on 16th March 1920 in Barrie, Ontario, Canada and was the son of Howard Clifford Merril and Ethel Blanche Porritt (nee Miller). After leaving school he worked as a porter for the Canadian National Railway in Barrie from 1938 until 1941. He enlisted for RCAF service on 24th September 1941 in North Bay, Ontario and trained as a pilot in Canada being was awarded his Pilot's Wings on 28th August 1942. He then left Canada on 27th October 1942 and arrived in the UK on 5th November 1942. He may then have served as a staff pilot at a number of training units, his service papers state that he was posted to 14 (P)AFU on 17th November 1942, S.P.T.U. on 22nd March 1943 and 3 (O)AFU on 27th May 1943. He was granted a commission to the rank of P/O on 5th April 1944 and was then posted to train at 6 (O)AFU on 22nd June 1944, to 22 OTU on 17th October 1944 and to 1659 HCU on 2nd March 1945. He was then posted to 432 Squadron on 11th April 1945 and appears to have first flown operationally as a second pilot in Halifax RG448 on the night of 13th April 1945 with P/O J.J.Daly and his crew. None of his own crew appear to have ever flown operationally with 432 Squadron.
Joseph Bedard and his grave in Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. He was the son of Emile and Gabrielle Bedard, of Lac aux Sables, Portneuf County, Province of Quebec, Canada.
Regis Charbonneau was 11th January 1926 to Emile and Irena Charbonneau (nee Caron), of St.Augustin des deux Montagnes, Province of Quebec, Canada. He was living with his parents in Ville Lasalle, Montreal when he enlisted for RCAF service and was working as a welder for the Canadian Car and Foundary company in Montreal. He enlisted for RCAF service on 17th August 1944 in Montreal for ground duties. After basic training in Canada he was posted to the UK in October 1944 and was then posted to East Moor on 10th November 1944.
These photographs depict the crash scene as seen from the tail-side and runway side of the aircraft. The left photograph is probably taken from the perimeter track and the right photograph is probably taken from the minor road that leads to Strensall that skirts the airfield boundary.
These larger photographs all appear to have been taken from inside a building at the nose-side of the aircraft and capture the scene as the fire began to dye down and then with the fire virtually out. The top photograph may be a double exposure.
The remains of the building this aircraft struck can be seen scattered in front of the wrecked aircraft.
My thanks to Mrs Mary Ann Bourassa for kindly sending me the largest four photographs shown at the bottom of this webpage, her father in law was a member of ground crew at East Moor in the later years of the War and took photographs of a number of crash aircraft, these photographs are ones that I have been able to tie to a known incident.
