Halifax BB240 at Marston Moor airfield.
On 12th December 1943 this 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft burst the port tyre on take off from Marston Moor airfield and on raising the undercarriage the port leg jammed half way retracted. The instructor took control, flew a circuit of the airfield and made a belly landing. The aircraft received damage deemed enough to write it off.
Pilot (Instructor) - P/O John Hubert Williams DFC RAFVR (127132).
Pilot (Pupil) - F/Sgt Anthony Harold Ernest Welch RAFVR (656030).
John Williams received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 17th July 1942 and rose to F/O six months later. He was awarded the DFC for service with 77 Squadron, Gazetted on 13th August 1943. He was posted from 10 O.T.U. to 1652 H.C.U. on 15th November 1943. On 10th January 1944 he was flying Halifax HR664 with 16652 HCU when it crashed into the Rover Ouse near Skelton, just north of York. Sadly all on board were killed. His body was never recovered from the River Ouse and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. He was still just twenty two years old.