Halifax BB238 at Linton on Ouse airfield.
At 20.20hrs on 26th September 1942 this 76 Squadron aircraft was taxying at Linton on Ouse airfield either prior to taking off or after landing following a cross country training flight. It taxied off the newly laid north-south runway and over some soft ground that had recently had a two foot wide water pipe laid in it. As the weight of the main undercarriage legs depressed the soft earth either side of the pipe when the rear wheel then struck the now exposed pipe it sheared off the tail wheel assembly. A very similar thing happened four days earlier to Halifax DT490 at Linton on Ouse. Contractors were undertaking work on the airfield at the time.
Pilot - Sgt Keith Arthur Peters RCAF (R/107123).
Just over a week later Keith Peters was dead. On 5th October 1942 he was flying Halifax DT496 on Ops to Aachen when the aircraft crashed in Belgium. He and his crew are buried in Heverlee War Cemetery, Belgium.
Halifax BB238 was built to contract B.124357/40 by the London Passenger Transport Board Ltd, at Leavesden and was taken on charge by 76 Squadron at Linton on Ouse on 22nd September 1942. On 26th September 1942 it sustained Cat.Ac/FA damage at Linton on Ouse when the tail wheel struck a waterpipe and broke off. The aircraft was returned to 76 Squadron after a repair on site on 31st October 1942. On 4th April 1943 a Cat.Ac/FB assessment resulted following flak damage. A repair on site commenced on 6th April 1943 and it was returned to 76 Squadron on 2nd May 1943. On 24th August 1943 the aircraft failed to return from Ops to Berlin. Cat.E(m) damage was recorded and it was struck off charge on 27th August 1943 having clocked up 290 flying hours in total.