Halifax PP362 at Baldersby.
During the early afternoon of 11th October 1946 this 1332 Heavy Transport Conversion Unit aircraft took off from Dishforth airfield so that the crew could undertake a training flight. The flight was to include the crew shutting down one engine to then practice flying on and then make a three-engine approach to land. The crew were instructed not then go on to land but to remain in the air to go on to fly a practice overshoot. Where practice landing approach and overshoot were due to be made is not stated in records I have seen and it may not have been at their base of Dishforth (which I will come to later). The subsequent accident investigation believed that prior to beginning the flight the trainee crew were instructed to fly on three engines but were not given the precise instructions to ensure it was not the starboard inner engine they shut down, this was because the starboard inner engine supplied the power to drive the hydraulic pump which was required for the automatic operation of the flaps and the undercarriage. After taking off the crew did as instructed; in that they shut down an engine and then continued to practice flying on three engines, to simulate flying the aircraft with a failed engine. Unfortunately they shut down the starboard inner engine. The crew then made the approach to land, the flaps and undercarriage were lowered, as would be done normally for landing without a problem and they then flew an overshoot of the airfield. Normally, the pilot or flight engineer would apply power to the running engines and raise the undercarriage and flaps to reduce drag so the aircraft would then climb away to begin making a circuit of the airfield to attempt landing another time. Attempting to overshoot on three engines was possible on three engines but unknowingly attempting it with no hydraulics was a problem, having already lowered the undercarriage and flaps then climbing and maintaining height on three engines was difficult. The aircraft found itself roughly over the fields to the north of Baldersby and in difficulty. The problem was almost certainly compounded when a turn to starboard was attempted, with a non-running engine on the starboard side this would create it's own problems for the pilot. The height the aircraft had was lost, clipped trees in an orchard before flying into trees and telephone wires alongside the Thirsk to Ripon road then crashing into a large field at the south side of the road. Unfortunately the aircraft broke up and three of the four crew were killed. The pilot remarkably survived though spent many months in hospital.
The airfield the crew were practicing the landing has always been assumed to have been their base of Dishforth and is probably correct. Baldersby four miles north of Dishforth. At face value it does seem too far to fly in a straight line before then making a turn to do something re-entering the airfield landing circuit, but perhaps assuming the pilot would have been struggling to keep the aircraft in the air he could have gone straight ahead while the flight engineer attempted to either work out why the hydraulics were not working or attempted to restart the fourth engine. It could be plausable the crew were using Topcliffe for this exercise but knowing where it crashed the starboard turn would have neen almost 180 degrees by the time it crashed. Skipton on Swale airfield is far closer to Baldersby but the direction it came in from while making the final turn it cannot have made a starboard one.
This was the final Halifax crash in Yorkshire and it occurred just a short distance from the first, Halifax L9487 on 13th January 1941 at Baldersby St.James.
Pilot - P.2 Sidney Albert Loosley RAFVR (1168197). Injured.
Wireless Operator - SigII Maurice Henry Hewlett RAFVR (1890451), aged 22. Buried Dagenham Churchyard, Essex.
Navigator - W/O Francis John Porritt DFM RAFVR (629863), aged 28. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (G.L.13).
Flight Engineer - W/O Arthur Gallagher RAFVR (1083529), aged 24. Buried Dipton Churchyard, Durham.
Francis Porritt was awarded the DFM for service with 115 Squadron, Gazetted on 20th July 1945. He was from Swansea, but was buried at the RAF plot in Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.
In September 2009 I was able attend a fieldwalk at the crash site with historians Albert Pritchard, Eric Barton and Ken Reast with permission from the landowner. A discernible wreckage trail could be plotted across the field and items located proved the aircraft type.
The item with the part number prefix "57.." and the plate stating "HALIFAX" being good clues as to we were in the right area.
Sidney Loosley sustained severe burns to his face and received other injuries including those to his legs. He was admitted to East Grinstead Hospital and was treated as a member of what became known as the Guinea Pig Club. He later married in 1950 and had two children before dying in 1975.
