On 17th May 1945 this B.17 Flying Fortress took off from Knettishall, Suffolk for a thousand mile night-navigation training flight with a crew of five airmen and as the war had just ended no air gunners were being carried on board. The aircraft belonged to the 561st Bomb Squadron, part of the 388th Bomb Group, USAAF. The route the crew were intending to fly was to have been from base to Newcastle, then down to Lands End and back to base. On the second leg from Newcastle to Lands End the aircraft struck the side of Great Whernside whilst flying in cloud, the impact was some way down the hillside and the aircraft ploughed its way up hill breaking up. Sadly all five airmen on board were killed when the front of the aircraft was totally destroyed. The tail section remained reasonably intact and upright on the hillside as is shown in the photograph below.
Pilot - 1st Lt Harry Joseph Cole USAAF (O-805402), aged 22. Of Miami, Dade County, Florida, USA. Buried Madingley Cemetery, Cambridge (D/5/37).
Co-Pilot - 2nd Lt Vance Lamar Ferguson USAAF (O-787796), aged 22, of Bradley County, Arkansas, USA. Buried Gravel Ridge Cemetery, Gravel Ridge, Arkansas, USA.
Navigator - 2nd Lt James Milton Young USAAF (O-2077543), aged 22. Of Ohio, USA. Buried Madingley Cemetery, Cambridge (F/5/86).
Engineer - Sgt Hoyt Edward Dixon USAAF (14050440), aged 22. Of Hamilton County, Tennessee, USA. Buried Madingley Cemetery, Cambridge (D/7/37).
Wireless Operator - S/Sgt Dario Battista USAAF (32453589), aged 27. Of Somerset County, New Jersey, USA. Buried Madingley Cemetery, Cambridge (F/4/33).
Harry Cole and his grave at Cambridge.
James Young was born on 30th June 1922 at East Liverpool, Ohio, USA and was the son of Sidney and Helen Young. He attended East Liverpool High School and Ohio Valley Business College as young man, then worked for at the Midland mills for the Pittsburgh Crucible Steel Company before enlisting for USAAF service in November 1942. He was married to Roberta Stowern Young
Gravestones of the other two members of this crew who are buried at Madingley Cemetery, Cambridge and also Vance Ferguson's grave back home in the USA.
Vance Ferguson was born on 29th June 1922 and enlisted for military service on 27th October 1942 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The photograph of his grave was found on the website "Findagrave".
Dario Battista was born on 12th October 1917 in New Jersey and was the son of Joseph and Mary Battista who were both born in Italy. He enlisted for military service on 29th July 1941 in Newark, New Jersey.
Hoyt Dixon was born on 7th July 1922 at Talking Rock, Georgia.
The scene of the crash, this photograph was taken just before the tail section was cut up in the days after the crash.
Exactly the same location in October 2008.
A small memorial plaque at the crash site.
I first visited the three sites on the west side of Great Whernside in November 2002 and there was not much to see at this crash site then. This is one of three within a few hundred yards on Great Whernside and all three sites are well visited sites with bits being collected, moved around and removed from the hill over the years. The scar on the hillside made by the crashing B17 is still visible but is slowly grassing over. The scar is shown in the photograph above.
Pretty much all that remained at the crash site in 2010.
A part number found on a small piece of wreckage at the crash site in 2010.