On 11th November 1943 the crew of this aircraft left Dyce at 09.15hrs tasked with flying a high level cross country training flight as part of their training with No.8 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit ((C)OTU), the route being flown on this day would have used turning points of "Bames Ness", Kendal, Doncaster, St.Abbs Head and returning to base near Aberdeen. The flight was to have been flown at around 25,000 feet. During the leg between Doncaster and St.Abbs Head the aircraft was attempting to land at Thornaby airfield because of a problem with the starboard engine, the propeller on this engine had been feathered with the engine shut down. After making an approach to land at Thornaby with the wheels down and the flaps extended, the pilot opted to overshoot, to then fly a circuit of the airfield for another attempt at landing. As the aircraft pulled away to go around the wheels were still down and the flaps were still extended, with only one engine in use there was not enough power to keep the aircraft in the air as it turned, it stalled and then crashed into a field at High Leven, near what is now Ingleby Barwick at 11.00hrs. Sadly both crew were killed. In 1977 there was an attempt to recover items from the crash site, this included an engine, but whether or not this was successful remains to be learnt. In 2004 planning permission was granted for a school to be built near the crash site and the school field would then be created over the crash site the following year. Air historian Mr David Thompson proposed that a memorial could be incorporated into the name of the school, or it's access roads. Permission for a exploritary trench over the site was apparently refused because of time constraints on the building work and I have not learned whether the naming of the roads were ever carried out.

Pilot - F/Lt Alan John Farquhar Symes RCAF (J/7617), aged 22, of Rockcliffe, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.

Navigator - Sgt Edward Lyon RAFVR (1433734), aged 20, of Lathom, Buried Burscough Churchyard, Ormskirk, Lancashire.

Alan Symes and his grave at Thornaby on Tees cemetery. He was born on 5th April 1921 in Birmingham, England and was the son of Alan and Margaret Jean Farquhar (nee Onion) Symes. The family lived in Birmingham until 1924 when they emmigrated to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. they lived there until 1940 when they moved to Ottawa, Ontario. He was still a student when he enlisted into the RCAF in Ottawa on 18th November 1940 and after training in Canada he was awarded his pilot's wings and also a commission on 13th September 1941. After gaining his Wings he then trained to be a flying instructor and served in Canada. While instructing at 8 SFTS at Moncton, New Brunswick on 15th May 1942 he was involved in a flying accident when a Harvard he was the pilot of struck a tree while low flying in the Moncton area and was force landed. While at Moncton he must have met his future wife as he married Margaret Soame there on 5th September 1942. By Summer 1943 he was selected to be posted to the UK and then to go down the Coastal Command training route. He arrived in the UK in July 1943, trained at 19 (P)AFU and was then posted to 8 (C)OTU on 12th October 1943