Wellington W5477 at Driffield airfield.
Prior to this incident the crew of this 104 Squadron aircraft had flown an operational flight on the night of 22nd / 23rd August 1941 and had landed at Martlesham Heath. During the late morning of 23rd August 1941 the aircraft was in the process of returning to Driffield airfield, it was entering the circuit of Driffield airfield and the crew were intent on making an approach to land. The aircraft approached the airfield the crew lowered the undercarriage but as soon as it was lowered the aircraft began to rapidly loose height. The pilot also noticed that another Wellington was landing in front of their aircraft so could not turn to make a hurried landing. In trying to work out why the aircraft was loosing height it was found that the port engine not operating at full power so the pilot applied maximum power to that engine but could not hold the port wing level. The pilot also attempted to put the port propeller into full fine pitch. The aircraft should have flown a clockwise circuit of the airfield to attempt another approach to land but because the port wing was dropping and the port engine was probably failing the pilot quite rightly considered flying a circuit in this direction was a bad idea. This circuit would tend to put the port wing lower to make the turn and with the failing port engine this could drag the aircraft towards the ground port wing first. Instead of flying a clockwise circuit the pilot turned the aircraft from the north-east side of the airfield, across the northern end and towards the north-west side but it continued to loose height until the pilot was left with no option but to crash land at 11.45hrs. It was found that although the cockpit propeller settings showed the port propeller to be in full fine pitch the actual propeller was completely the opposite and in full coarse pitch so full power applied to the port engine would still have little effect in holding the aircraft level. All on board were injured to some degree but the pilot was found not to blame.
Wellington W5477 was built to contract B.71441/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Weybridge and was received by 38 MU on 3rd April 1941. After a short period
of storage it was taken on charge by 104 Squadron based at Driffield on 9th August 1941. As a result of the incident on 23rd August 1941 Cat.E/FA damage was recorded
and the aircraft was written off. It was struck off charge on 4th September 1941.
Pilot - Sgt Frank Richardson RAAF (402252), of Vaucluse, New South Wales, Australia.
Second Pilot - P/O Bernard Norris Murdoch RNZAF (40421), of Upper Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand.
Observer - Sgt Russell Johnston Mountier RAFVR (925336), of Katikati, Auckland, New Zealand.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt John Robson Scott RAFVR (965205).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Bernard Walter Robbens RAFVR (955007).
Air Gunner - Sgt Albert Douglas Foch Craig RAF (540277).
Albert Craig was born on the Isle of Man in December 1918 and was the son of Albert and Beatrice Craig but his father died when he was a baby, his
mother later re-married. Albert married Kitty Matthews in Newmarket in 1940 who was living in Finsbury Park either when Albert died or when the Wargraves
Commission made their record just after the war. Albert was Mentioned in Despatches on 1st January 1941.
Frank Richardson was born on 28th May 1921 in Sydney, Australia, he enlisted there in 1940.
On 8th September 1941 a number of those named above were on Wellington W5362 on Ops to Berlin, the aircraft was lost without trace.
All are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Sgt Richardson was aged 20, Sgt Mountier was 21, Sgt Robbens was 20 and F/Sgt Craig was 22.
John Scott received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 1st July 1943 (157441) and rose to F/O on 1st January 1944 and F/Lt on 1st July 1945.
He remained in the RAF until relinquishing his commission on 21st September 1953 on appointment to the RNZAF.
P/O Murdoch was killed on 7th December 1941 flying in Wellington Z8426 when it did not return from Ops to Dunkirk. He and his then crew are
commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.