Hurricane BE323 at Hayburn Wyke.
On 30th September 1941 this aircraft was being flown by a member of the Training Ferry Pilot Pool, of the Air Transport Auxillary on a ferry flight. The starting point for the flight is not known but the destination may have been to Sherburn in Elmet where the ATA had facilities. The eventual destination airfield was probably Silloth, where 22 MU were based and also where the aircraft had been allocated to but never arrived. Owing to bad weather the pilot appears to have become lost and flown for too far beyond Sherburn in Elmet. He eventually made a forced landing in a field at Hayburn Wyke, between Scarborough and Ravenscar. While the forced landed was successful and no damage resulted, the aircraft could not be flown out of the field.
Pilot - First Officer Marcus Samuel Hale ATA (M.405).
Marcus Hale was born on 20th January 1900 at Manchester where his family initially lived at Chorlton upon Medlock. He later moved to Fulham, London and worked as a publisher's secretary from 1915 to 1917. During the First World War he appears to have initially served in the East Surrey Regiment. In November 1917 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and began pilot training. He then transferred to the newly formed RAF in April 1918 and later received a commission to the rank of Temporary Second Lieut on 15th October 1918. He was then placed on the Unemployed List on 10th May 1919. He rejoined the RAF in July 1920 and was granted the rank of Flying Officer which saw him serve with 24 Squadron, No.2 Flying Training School and 100 Squadron. On 10th December 1920 he got married but between 5th and 12th December 1920 he was absent without leave in the RAF which had its consequences for him. He was found guilty at Court Martial and severely reprimanded. In May 1921 he was back before a Court Martial for disobeying a lawful command by his superior officer. This saw him being found guilty and he was dismissed from the RAF on 14th June 1921. What he then did is unknown but his first marriage broke down. During the first part of the Second World War he worked in the inspection department at the Hurricane repairs section of the Gloster Aircraft Company Ltd and lived in Cheltenham. He joined the Air Transport Auxillary on 15th May 1941. He married an ATA female pilot Joan Durham Witherby in 1942. He later commanded the T.F.P.P., No.5 F.P.P. and No.1 F.P.P. but left the ATA on 21st February 1945. For services with the ATA he was awarded an OBE and he died in Chichester in 1981.
Hurricane BE323 was built to contract 6b2305/39 by the Hawker Aircraft Company Ltd. at either the Langley or Brooklands factory and on 30th September 1941 it was allocated to 22 MU at Silloth. On this date it was collected by a pilot of (Training) Ferry Pool, based at White Waltham and flown north. The pilot then force landed at Hayburn Wyke but it could not be flown out. It was dismantled on site and transported to 82 M.U. (Packing Depot) at Lichfield, where it arrived on 27th October 1941. On 5th November 1941 it was shipped on the S.S.Trehata to Russia and after this nothing more of the aircraft is known.