Blenheim L1494 at Cutsyke, Castleford.
During the night of 9th / 10th May 1941 the trainee pilot in this 54 Operational Training Unit aircraft suffered engine failure over the Castleford area and he was unable to fully control the aircraft, he contacted his base to say he was baling out. It was believed that as he was about to leave the cockpit he realised his proximity to housing in Cutsyke, Castleford and attempted to direct the aircraft away from housing. The aircraft crashed into a small field near Cutsyke, Castleford before he was able to make good his escape so was killed. At the time there was an air-raid warning in force at Church Fenton and there is also a suggestion that, like other incidents on that night, he been disorientated with there been no lighting at Church Fenton which may have compounded his situation. The aircraft crashed at 03.30hrs on 10th May 1941.
Blenheim L1494 was built to contract 527114/36 by The Bristol Aeroplane Co. Ltd. at Filton as a bomber version and was awaiting collection in
February 1939 and by the time of the accident at Castleford it was an old aircraft. After a short period of storage it was taken on charge by the
RAE at Farnborough and once testing work was completed the aircraft was placed in MU storage again. On an unknown date it was converted to Mk1f
status. It's history is somewhat vague but in 1939 the aircraft was on charge with 600 Squadron and in early 1940 it appears on charge with 219
Squadron at Catterick before moving to 23 Squadron at Ford in late 1940. 23 Squadron ceased operating Blenheim Mk1f's in April 1941 and the aircraft
was passed on to 54 O.T.U. at Church Fenton when this happened. Cat.E2/FA Burnt damage was recorded following the accident at Castleford.
Pilot - Sgt Bruce William Smeaton RAFVR (1160948), aged 22, of Carshalton Beeches, Surrey. Buried Kirkby Wharfe Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Bruce Smeaton was born 12th August 1918 and attended Bancroft's School, Essex between 1929 and 1936 where he excelled in sport, 1st Eleven cricket captain being one of his achievements. He later worked for Lloyds Bank before enlisting into the RAFVR in 1939. He gained his Wings on 10th March 1941 at 2 FTS and after further initial training he was posted to 54 OTU to train to become a night-fighter pilot. At the time of his death he had twenty one hours flying time on the Blenheim. I thank his great nephew for contacting me in March 2016.
>In the years after his death a memorial trophy was presented to the local Cutsyke school and awarded yearly to pupils as an attendance trophy (photograph by Eric Barton). Sadly the school closed some years ago but the memorial trophy passed to Ackton Pastures School, Castleford where it is still awarded annually.
Sgt Smeaton is also commemorated at Bancroft's School in a number of locations.
His parents paid for an oak memorial lectern which is still in use, he is also remembered on the School War memorial in the school's grounds and on the School's memorial gates.
Two views of Bancroft's School's memorial gates, the top photograph also shows the war memorial beyond.
I would like to thank Mr Adrian Lee / Bancroft's School for his assistance in documenting Sgt Smeaton's life and for kindly providing the photograph of him and all the school photographs. Mr Lee is also documenting Sgt Smeaton's life for the school records.
Research in Castleford by air historian (late) Mr Albert Pritchard, and fieldwork by him, Ken Reast and Eric Barton located the crash site close to a housing development with small fragments of the aircraft being located on the surface following fieldwalking in July 2006. The photograph above was taken by Eric Barton. The site had just escaped having a road built over it in 2008 joining Normanton to Glass Houghton (when I took the photograph below) but has since had a newer housing development "Blenheim Way" built on the field. A further road near-by named "Bruce Smeaton Way" is named in honour of the pilot.
Fragments of the aeroplane that Eric Barton retained following their locating the site. These fragments were passed to me in 2022 to find a new home for.
