Halifax DG413 near Hutton Cranswick.
Halifax DG413 was a new aircraft, it was built by Rootes Securities in the Speke factory and was only received as new by 1663 Heavy Conversion Unit on 30th March 1943, prior to the crash
on 6th April 1943 it had only been flown for 4.5 hours. On 6th April 1943 the crew of this aircraft were carrying out a fighter affiliation exercise with a large number of
airmen in the aircraft, there was one experienced pilot, a gunnery instructor and ten other aircrew under training. Twenty five minutes into the flight and while flying at
6000ft the starboard wing folded and broke off as the aircraft was making a steep turn and the aircraft then crashed and burnt out near Hutton Cranswick at 10.55hrs. Sadly
all twelve on board were killed. The starboard wing fell around a mile away from where the rest of the aircraft landed and because the aircraft was new a detailed examination
was carried out to determine why the wing failed. An initial belief that bolts attaching the broken wing to the main aircraft had sheared due to stresses on the airframe were
ruled out, it was the finding of the investigation that the front spar lower attachment bolt had worked its way out in flight. This should not have happened in a new aircraft
and it was the conclusion of the investigating team that faulty assembly by Rootes was the cause of the bolt working loose. It is then likely that all Halifaxes of the type
were grounded until this bolt could be inspected, in all nine other aircraft were found to have either worked loose or had parts missing that should have been used in the
manufacturing process. This incident was one of the worst in terms of loss of life in one single air crash in the whole war in the whole of Yorkshire.
Halifax DG413 was built to contract ACFT/637/C4/C by Rootes Securities Ltd. at Speke and was taken on charge by 1663 Heavy Conversion Unit on 31st March 1943 at Rufforth. As a result of the damage sustained on 6th April 1943 Cat.E2/FA Burnt damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge on 14th April 1943 having amassed just five hours flying from new.
Pilot - P/O Stockton Gowland Rawling DFC RAFVR (136317), aged 19, of Bristol. Buried Greenbank Cemetery, Bristol, Gloucestershire.
Pilot - Sgt Richmond Brough MiD RNZAF (416084), aged 25, of Mangateparu, New Zealand. Buried Driffield Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Pilot - Sgt Robert James Tarren RAFVR (1238778), aged 21, of Bromsgrove. Finstall Churchyard, Worcestershire.
Flight Engineer - Sgt Peter Arnaud Tinch RAF (616470), aged 22, of Edinburgh. Buried Driffield Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Vernon Clifford Burt RAF (524215), aged 25, of Ealing. Buried South Ealing Cemetery, Middlesex.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Charles Phillip Sheppard RAFVR (1267634), aged 20, of Plumstead. Buried Plumstead Cemetery, London.
Air Gunner - Sgt David John Rees RAFVR (1314623), aged 25, of of Garnant, Carmarthenshire. Buried Goytre Cemetery, Port Talbot, Glamorganshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Thomas Raymond Lawrence RAF (591258), aged 21, of Middlesbrough. Buried Acklam Cemetery, Middlesbrough, Yorkshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Harold Widdrington O'Connor RAFVR (1670354), aged 25, of Fulwell, Sunderland. Buried Mere Knolls Cemetery, Sunderland, Durham.
Air Gunner - Sgt Frederick Hensher Warren RAFVR (1315426), aged ? Buried Driffield Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Air Gunner - P/O Ralph Ernest Jeffery DFM RAFVR (142511), aged 22, of Surbiton, Surrey. Buried Driffield Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Passenger (Maintenance Assistant) - AC2 Donald William Cresswell RAFVR (1678544), aged 18, of Coalville. Buried Broom Leys Cemetery, Coalville, Leicestershire.
Stockton Rawling received a commission on 28th November 1942 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency). He was awarded the DFC for service with 51 Squadron but the notification of his award was not printed in the London Gazette until 14th May 1943 and after his death. The citation for his DFC reads.. "P/O Rawling was serving on his second tour of operations and proved himself to be a pilot of exceptional ability. His sorties have included 19 daylight patrols over the Bay of Biscay, and in August 1942, when observed a U-boat, he delivered a low-level attack, which was subsequently assessed as probably successful. P/O Rawling has, on many occasions, obtained excellent photographs, which have proved the success of his attacks."
The photograph of Stockton Rawling was found on aircrewremembered.com
F/Sgt Jeffery (1283354)(as he was at the time) was awarded the DFM for service with 51 Squadron, Gazetted after his death on 18th May 1943. The citation reads.. "F/Sgt Jeffrey has participated as air gunner in numerous operational sorties. During missions to such heavily defended targets as Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, and on anti-submarine patrols, he has displayed great skill, courage and determination whatever the opposition encountered." He received a commission on 19th February 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) but the notification of this was again only printed in the London Gazette after his death. The photograph of Ralph Jeffery was found on aircrewremembered.com
Frederick Warren and his grave in Driffield Cemetery. The photograph of Frederick Warren was found on aircrewremembered.com. The photograph shown below I was given a few years ago but cannot remember what the source was, it was said to depict his funeral procession leaving Driffield airfield bound for Driffield Cemetery.
Richmond Brough was a reasonably experienced pilot with 449 flying hours to his name, he had flown with 10 OTU and later 10 Squadron before posting to 1663 HCU
to undertake further Halifax training. Prior to joining the RNZAF he was an electrian. Also shown are Sgt Tinch's gravestone in Driffield Cemetery and Sgt
Lawrence's in Acklam Cemetery, Middlesbrough.
This incident to Halifax DG413 and crew has been well documented on the internet on the Aircrew Remembered website and by Neil Smith (of 51 Squadron Association).