On 5th July 1944 this aircraft is believed to have been damaged in an incident at "Darley, Yorkshire". It is assumed that the Darley stated is the Darley to the south east of Pateley Bridge. Damage was only slight as the aircraft was soon repaired and then written off on 26th October 1944, with Cat.E2/FA damage being recorded at this later date. The aircraft may have been based at Scorton.
On this date the Clifton airfield Flying Control occurance book (AIR16/928) stated they were informed of a crashed Oxford at (location) E.6878.
During a visit to Darley Mill in July 2012 I skipped through a book on local memories of Darley village and reference to a forced landing of an aircraft was mentioned. The book stated that locals recall an aircraft landing in the Darley area in 1944 and that the crew were taken to Turpin's Lair and given tea before being collected. The recollections believed the crew to have been French and the aircraft to have possibly been an Avro Anson. Whilst it is possible that the incident is a completely seperate incident I can understand the confusion between the two types of twin engine aircraft. The Free French or French-Canadian crew reference is harder to explain the difference with a US pilot.
Pilot - Elias Steinberg USAAF, of Nashville, USA.