Halifax W1038 near Wigginton.

Just before 15.00hrs on 16th October 1942 the crew of this 158 Squadron Halifax took off from East Moor airfield to undertake a cross country training flight. A short time later and while making a climbing turn at 800 feet above the ground the port outer engine began to vibrate excessively. The aircraft began to lose height and the port wing began to drop. The pilot could not maintain height so force landed in a field behind the Black Horse Inn at Wigginton. The mid upper gunner reported over the intercom that he believed that fuel was leaking from the end of the port wing at the time of the engine vibrations. Six of the eight crew were injured and a fire broke out after the crash resulting in the aircraft being destroyed. An investigation found that the pitch operating system on a propeller on the port outer engine failed.

Other more modern accounts of this incident must invent a story and state that the offending engine caught fire prior to the crash and that the crew of eight had baled out with the aircraft crashing. This is untrue. The casualty file specifically states that the pilot ordered the crew to brace themselves prior to the impact with the ground so they cannot have baled out. The Yorkshire Air Museum once had a list of air accidents that were available for the public to view and this recorded the crash location as being at Flatt Topped Farm, Wigginton, some distance away from where the pub was.

Pilot - Sgt John Bartlett RNZAF (NZ.413370). Injured.

Navigator / Bomb Aimer - P/O Philip Richmond Burt RAFVR (120036). Injured.

Navigator - P/O Wilmer Frederick West RAF (80260). Injured.

Bomb Aimer - Sgt Ian Urquart McLauchlan RAFVR (1388268). Injured.

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Arthur Noel Dymond RAFVR (1287067). Injured.

Flight Engineer - Sgt James Thorogood RAF (625658). Injured.

Air Gunner - Sgt William Edward George Durnell RAF (531752). Injured.

Air Gunner - Sgt Philip Thurston Wallis RAFVR (1321236). Uninjured.

Halifax W1038 was built to contract B.982938/40 by English Electric Co.Ltd. at Samlesbury. It was on charge by 10 Squadron at Leeming on 13th March 1942 and was being used by 10 Squadron operationally by the end of March 1942. As a result of battle damage sustained on the night of 5th / 6th June 1942 Cat.A/FB damage was the damage assessment. Soon after the repair was complete it was transferred to 158 Squadron at East Moor on 29th June 1942 where it was carried the squadron code "NP-N". On 16th October 1942 it was badly damaged in a crash near Wigginton, York. Cat.E/FA Burnt damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge on 21st October 1942.
John Bartlett enlisted for RNZAF service in June 1941 and after basic training he left for the UK in January 1942. He had an eventful but brief time with 158 Squadron, he was the pilot of Halifax W1038 which would crash near Wigginton on his first flight in a 158 Squadron Halifax on 16th October 1942. On the night of 9th / 10th November 1942 he was the pilot of Halifax DT521 that suffered an undercarriage collapse after returning from Ops to Genoa. A fatal accident on 6th December 1942 involving Halifax DG223 was his last with 158 Squadron and he did not fly operationally again. He spent three months at 2 (O)AFU at Millom and a month at the Staff Pilots Training Unit in 1943 but later returned to New Zealand by the end of 1943. After the War he returned home to New Zealand where he died on 11th November 1997.

The crash on 6th December 1942 killed Sgt Wallis and another member of their then crew.

Philip Burt was born in London in 1919. He received a commission to P/O on probation (emergency) on 6th May 1942 and on 6th November 1942 he was promoted to F/O on probation (war subs). He recovered from his injuries and flew a Tour with 158 Squadron, he was awarded the DFC for this, Gazetted on 10th September 1943. He was later promoted to F/Lt on 6th May 1944 and posted to 35 Squadron. He was to be killed on 5th July 1944 when Lancaster ND846 was shot down by flak on Ops to Villeneuve, France. He is buried at Clichy New Communal Cemetery.

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