Spitfire LF.Vb AD413 near Balkholme.
On 11th January 1946 this 1687 (Bomber Defence) Flight aircraft took off from Binbrook but the reason for the flight is not known when the webpage was created. The pilot became lost in poor weather and the compass and radio then failed. Eventually he attempted to make a wheels down forced landing in a field near Balkholme but the undercarriage snagged wires and a tree stump at the edge of the field. Unfortunately the aircraft broke up across the adjoining field killing the pilot. Historians Ken Reast, Albert Pritchard and Eric Barton located small fragments at the crash site with permission from the landowner to confirm the location. Information I have enherited does not state when this was or who the landowner is. It does give a location as being in a field just south of Balkholme and they only found small fragments, some of which Eric retained and are shown in the photograph above.
Pilot - F/O John Harris DFC RAFVR (177913), aged 24. Buried Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool (19.CofE.1946).
John Harris was awarded the DFC for service with 550 Squadron flying Lancasters, Gazetted on 22nd May 1945. He was posted to 1687 Flight on 16th February 1945 from 550 Squadron so would have either been an instructor or staff pilot at the time of his death. Liverpool newspapers listed John Harris' death though stated he was killed at "Hemswell Field" but his death registration was made in the Howden district of Yorkshire in which Balkholme falls. Only three weeks before his death he had married Margaret Williams, of Speke, Liverpool. The "www.550squadronassociation.org.uk" website has additional information and photographs of him and his crew at 550 Squadron.