Harrow K6991 near Kirk Smeaton.
On the night of 5th / 6th October 1938 this 214 Squadron aircraft was one of nine that took off from Feltwell airfield to under a night training exercise. During the course of the flight the aircraft flew into bad weather that would turn out to be a thunder storm and this caused the crews became lost. Other aircraft in the air managed to land safely. The crew of Harrow K6991 unfortunately saw their aircraft be struck by lightning, this damaged the wireless, caused an engine to fail and the pilot to loose control. The wireless operator was thrown from his position in the aircraft and briefly knocked unconcious. When he came round he managed to repair the wireless transmitted a signal to state that they were abandoning the aircraft. In baling out he jumped through the escape hatch but his straps caught on the inside of the aircraft and the door closed behind him leaving him stuck under aircraft. The crew remaining in the aircraft then opened the hatch again and he, rather amusingly, then reappeared in the aircraft. All the crew then succesfully abandoned the aircraft. The aircraft then crashed in a small field just west of Kirk Smeaton and disintergrated at between 02.30hrs and 03.00hrs. The crew survived their landings by parachute although one sustained injuries after landing in a tree. The aircraft must have come in from the north as one landed in Stapleton Park, two between Castle Farm and Little Smeaton and one other just 400 yards from where the aircraft crashed. The wireless operator was later awarded the Air Force Medal for his actions on this night.
The citation for the Air Force medal awarded to the wireless operator states "The medal has been awarded for meritorious conduct. A heavy bomber in which Cpl. Bruce was the wireless operator was struck by lightning on night flight and one engine and the wireless were put out of commission. The captain gave orders to don parachutes and stand by the escape hatches, but without a though for his own safety Cpl. Bruce began working on the set and re-established communication with the station. Just then the other engine cut out completely and Cpl. Bruce fixed his parachute and jumped out from a height of less than 2,000 ft. Cpl. Bruce, who belongs to Hebburn-on-Tyne, is a member of Air Observer Corps."
Pilot - F/O Colin Leslie Gilbert RAF (39458).
Pilot - P/O Frank Leslie Herbert Eddison RAFVR (39377).
Wireless Operator - LAC Dominic Bruce RAF (522098).
Passenger? - AC M G Brown (Possibly Maurice George Brown RAFVR (567245)).
? - AC E Robertson.
Frank Eddison was killed on 9th May 1941 when 214 Squadron Wellington R1226 crashed in Holland, all his then crew were then killed and are buried Bergen op Zoom Cemetery. He was awarded the DFC for service with 214 Squadron but the notification came through after his death.
Colin Gilbert the son of Elisabeth and Les Gilbert of Maitland, York Peninsular, South Australia. After flying training he was awarded his RAF wings on 6th December 1936. After service with 214 Squadron he flew with 99 Squadron before a posting to 15 OTU. He was later posted to 460 Squadron and was killed on 7th May 1942 when Wellington Z1272 crashed near Mannheim. He is buried at Durnbach War Cemetery.
Dominic Bruce's life has been well documented elsewhere and I do not wish to simply copy these works. He was in 214 Squadron Harrow K6940 that struck a train on landing at Radlett on 25th March 1937. He baled out of Harrow K6991 on 6th October 1938 over Yorkshire and this appears to have seen him awarded the Air Force Medal, Gazetted on 8th June 1939. On 9th June 1941 he was forced to bale out of 9 Squadron Wellington R1758 off Zeebrugge that saw him picked up by a German boat and taken PoW. During his time as PoW he was involved in a number of escape attempts that saw him sent to the famous Colditz Castle and here he attempted a number of escapes. He was awarded the Military Cross for his escape attempts. He was later awarded the OBE and the KSG.
Historians Eric Barton, Ken Reast and Albert Pritchard located small fragments of the aircraft on the surface in the field in November 2004 with permission from the landowner confirming the crash location as being in a small field on the western side of Kirk Smeaton.