Blenheim L1251 near Heworth, York.
On 3rd February 1941 the crew on this 54 Operational Training Unit aircraft were undertaking a training flight when they encountered a snow storm in the York area. The pilot had become
lost and he had attempted to contact base to get a homing signal to return to Church Fenton airfield. At 21.05hrs the aircraft was being flown very low probably
to enable the crew to work out their position when it lost further height in a turn and a wing struck the ground, the aircraft then crashed on farm land near
to Bad Bargain Lane, to the east of York. Sadly the crew of two were killed and it was later reported that the pilot had limited night flying experience and
combined with the poor weather forecast he should not have been permitted to undertake the exercise on this night. The exact location of where this accident
occurred is not known when this webpage was last updated and I would like to hear from anyone who is able to give more information on where it crashed. Two
map references were searched by air historians Ken Reast, Eric Barton and Albert Pritchard in 1998 and nothing aircraft related was found, I returned to the
same general area with them in 2013 and again we failed to find anything. Since the war a lot of houses have been built reasonably close to the York end of Bad
Bargain Lane and it could well be that the site was built over. Having said that all the available information does still put the crash site out on open
farmland and perhaps we had not searched the right area. Any information gratefully received.
Pilot - Sgt Walter Daunt Kimber RAFVR (742859), aged 27, of Bishop's Stortford. Buried Bishop's Stortford Old Cemetery, Hertfordshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Vernon Mark Foot RAF (539627), aged 21, of Fratton, Portsmouth. Buried Milton Cemetery, Portsmouth, Hampshire.
Walter Kimber was born in the Holborn area of London in 1913. He had trained to be a pilot at 9 FTS and gained his Wings in August 1940.
The online CWGC register incorrectly gives Sgt Kimber as serving with 54 Squadron at the time of his death and numerous websites have copied
this error. He was serving with 54 O.T.U. The photograph of his grave shown here was found on Flickr.
The crash site is believed to be in this area which was set-aside land in 2013, all the fields are private property and we sought permission to
access the land in September 2013.
I thank Mr Robert Ford for contacting me in May 2012. His mother was Vernon Foot's girlfriend at the time he was sadly killed in this accident, Vernon
was known as "Ricky" to people who knew him. Prior to enlisting into the RAF he was training to be a solicitor in the Hampshire Terrace area of Portsmouth.
His father, Samuel Foot, lived in Portsmouth's North End and he was the cinema organist at the Savoy Cinema, Portsmouth.
Blenheim L1251 was built to contract 527114/36 by The Bristol Aeroplane Co. Ltd. at Filton and was awaiting collection in June 1938. It was
taken on charge by 34 Squadron at Upper Heyford the following month. It later transferred to 144 Squadron at Hemswell on an unknown date but was
flown into MU in March 1939 for conversion to MkIf status. Later in 1939 the aircarft is recorded as being on charge with 248 Squadron at Hendon
and 600 Squadron at Hornchurch but the date of transfers are not known. On 27th December 1939 it moved with 600 Squadron to Manston. On
15th March 1940 it was transferred to the newly formed 5 OTU at Aston Down but on 1st November 1940 all of 5 OTU's Blenheims transferred to
54 OTU at Church Fenton which formed on 25th November 1940 and the aircraft was almost certainly flown there soon after that date. It
sustained Cat.E2/FA damage as a result of the accident near York in February 1941 and was written off.