Oxford V3150 near Easthorpe, Malton.
Those on board this Oxford were undertaking a radio transmitter training exercise combined with a map reading exercise as part of their training with 54 O.T.U. on 2nd September 1941. On
board were two pilots (one flying it and the other as a passenger), the assumption is made that either both men had shared the exercise by exchanging
seats in mid-flight. Whilst in the Malton area the pilot lost control whilst flying in cloud and began a spin downwards, he was able to regain control
but the aircraft then spun the other way. Again the pilot pulled out of this dive but due to the stresses put on the aircraft by pulling out of such
dives, the ailerons and elevators broke away from the aircraft. With the aircraft now fully out of control the pilot and his passenger had no chance
of leaving the aircraft, the aircraft hit the ground at 09.43hrs near Easthorpe Hall, west of Malton with the two dead airmen being found in or around
the wreckage. An Army Signals wing occupied Easthorpe Hall at the time and they reported seeing it spin in to the ground. 54 OTU's ORB stated it crashed
one mile north-east of Castle Howard (which is in roughly the same area). Easthorpe Hall also had many women service personnel stationed there during
the War. The Hall was lastly a night club/casino and was burnt to the ground following a fire in the 1970s. In later years a small housing development
was built over the site. The crash site itself is believed to be in a field half a mile away.
Oxford V3150 was built to contract B55346/39 by De Havilland at Hatfield, it was delivered to MU storage in July 1940 but not issued to a unit until
54 OTU took the aircraft on charge on 22nd December 1940. It served with them until it's accident on 2nd September 1941.
Pilot (at the time of crash) - Sgt Arthur Charles Howard RAFVR (1380126), aged 20, of Penrhyn Bay, Caernarvonshire. Buried Manchester Southern Cemetery, Lancashire.
Pilot - Sgt Cyril Arthur Edwards RAFVR (1286483), aged 21, of Woolside Park, London. Buried Islington Cemetery, London.
Cyril Edwards gravestone, photograph found elsewhere on the internet.
Sgt Howard is given on the RAF crash card as being the pilot at the time of the crash, he trained at 7 EFTS, 15 SFTS, he had a grand total of 102
hours flying time at his death, 93 hours of which were on the Oxford. He gained his Wings in July 1941, less than two months prior to his death.
Ironically the aircraft almost certainly crashed onto land owned by the Howard family of Castle Howard.
