Hurricane P2887 near Whitby.

On 20th March 1941 the pilot of this aircraft took off from Usworth airfield at Sunderland to undertake a training flight. The pilot must have encountered bad weather and poor visibility as he became lost, he was unable to contact his base as his radio set was also not working correctly but then due to a strong wind he had drifted out of range of radio contact. Believing he was running out of fuel he made a forced landing at 16.25hrs near Cross Butts Farm, just west of Whitby out on the Guisborough road. The aircraft was probably landed on the fields near the farm rather than on the road. It was later found that there was fuel in the tanks but that the gauges for the main fuel tanks were later found to be not working correctly. The aircraft was slightly damaged and was taken away and repaired.

Hurricane P2887 was built to contract 962371/38 by Gloster Aircraft Co. Ltd at Hucclecote and was delivered to the RAF in January 1940. After acceptance at M.U. it was issued to 5 OTU at Aston Down on 15th March 1940. 5 OTU became 55 OTU at Aston Down on 1st November 1940. The aircraft moved with the unit to Usworth in February 1941. In the above incident it suffered Cat.B/FA damage. It was repaired and possibly converted to Mk.II configuration. It was then issued to 1 AACU at Carew Cheriton later in 1941 and then transferred to 1608 (AACU) Flight at Aberporth on an unknown date. It later went to 595 (AACU) Squadron which formed on 1st December 1943 at Aberporth absorbing 1608 Flight and was finally struck off charge on 17th June 1944.

Pilot - Sgt Lancelot Wolfram Roy Rogers RAFVR (921992), of Bristol, Gloucestershire. Uninjured.

Lancelot Rogers was born at Bristol on 3rd January 1913. He married in the Keynsham area of Somerset in 1932. He had a total of 101 hours of flying time, only nine of which were on a Hurricane at the time of this incident near Whitby. He would receive a commission on 22nd May 1943 and receieved promotion to F/O by the time he was killed in a flying accident on 15th February 1944 in the Bristol area. He lost his life along with F/Lt Frederick Garvey RAFVR DSO DFC when Oxford LW776 crashed into Headley Park, about a mile west of Whitchurch airfield near Bristol. Garvey was buried in Bath. Rogers may have been screened and took an instructing role at Whitchurch, a handy airfield located not far from his home, and perhaps a welcome break for him. He is buried in the city's Arnos Vale cemetery and was thirty one years old.
I would welcome any information about a more detailed location for where this incident occurred near Cross Butts Farm, Whitby to allow me photograph the area.

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