On 16th August 1942 the crew of this 1652 Conversion Unit aircraft were undertaking a training flight and during the course of the flight had landed at Dalton airfield. They then flew from Dalton towards Burn as the next stage of the exercise. At this date Burn airfield near Selby was rarely used. On the approach to land the aircraft but suffered a problem in lowering the port undercarriage. On touching down at Burn at 17.05hrs the port undercarriage leg collapsed and the aircraft skidded to a halt sustaining damage. Two of the crew sustained minor injuries. It was thought likely that while the pilot had moved the undercarriage selection levers to lower the undercarriage legs, the port lever was not fully pushed down.
Pilot - Sgt William Beck RAFVR (1376637). Injured.
Flight Engineer - Sgt Thomas Laurie Brown RAF (570690).
Air Gunner - Sgt Hubert Dixon RAFVR (1377959). Injured.
Passenger (Fitter) - AC2 A J Diprose RAF (643037).
Halifax L9496 was one of the first Halifaxes built. It was built to contract 692649/39 by Handley Page Ltd. at Radlett and was allotted to 24 MU on 22nd December 1940. On 15th February 1941 it was taken on charge by 35 Squadron at Linton on Ouse where it carried the squadron code "TL-N". It was damaged on 23rd March 1941 when the tail wheel collapsed on landing at Linton on Ouse and the minor damage was repaired on site. On 19th June 1941 it was transferred to 76 Squadron at Middleton St.George. On 12th September 1941 it received Cat.R damage at Linton on Ouse. The AM Form 1180 for this incident states it was with 76 Squadron but this was then crossed out in favour of 1652 Conversion Unit being the unit involved. 1652 C.U. did not exist as early as this. The following day the damage was assessed by No.43 Group D.A. and a repair on site began. The repair took a month; it was back with 76 Squadron on 13th October 1941. On 28th October 1941 it was transferred to 28 Conversion Flight at Linton on Ouse but appears to have sustained minor damage on delivery, sustaining Cat.Ac/FA damage. It was repaired on site and returned to 28 C.F. on 22nd January 1942 which worked within and was later absorbed by 1652 Conversion Unit at Marston Moor. On 12th or 13th February 1942 it sustained unspecified Cat.Ac/FA damage. There is an AM Form 1180 that exists but it shows no information other than a date, Cat.Ac damage being the assessment and Marston Moor airfield as the location. Once again was repaired on site. On return to service it was officially transferred to the books of 1652 Conversion Unit at Marston Moor but that date is not given on the aircraft's AM Form 78. As a result of a landing incident at Burn airfield on 16th August 1942 the damage was again assessed and this time the more serious Cat.E/FA damage was the result. It was struck off charge on 16th August 1942 having clocked up a total of 229 flying hours.
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