On the evening of the 23rd December 1943 the crew of this 1664 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft took off from Dishforth airfield at 18.44hrs to carry out a night-time cross country training exercise with the planning route taking them over the western side of the country to take in turning points of St.Bees Head, followed by the Mull of Galloway, St.Davids Head, the Menai Bridge, Douglas, St.Bees Head, Carlisle and returning to base of Dishforth. With the route flown the crew were well on their way to making the return to Dishforth when the crew heard the two starboard engines running far too fast and the aircraft then went into a diving turn over the Pennines. Believing there was a major problem with the aircraft the pilot ordered the crew to get to their parachutes and four of the crew baled out over Upper Wharfedale. The locations of where the survivors landed in mentioned in a No.6 Group flying control log; Mitchell was found at Scargill (neat Kettlewell), and Crowe and Harvey were found at Buckden. Marsden was unaccounted for a time but eventually was tracked down by Skipton police (presumably in the Wharfedale area). The pilot, rear gunner and flight engineer did not leave the aircraft. The pilot and flight engineer may have remained on board longer than the others to try and correct the fault. The available information does not state why the rear gunner remained on board but perhaps the intercom had failed so he did not hear the instructions until the flight engineer went back to look at the fuel system settings and found him. In the minutes that followed the aircraft had flown a further forty miles and must have been loosing height and also flying at a strange angle which put stresses on the airframe for which it was not designed. As the three remaining crew were about to abandon the aircraft over the Harrogate area the situation became so critical that the stresses on the aircraft caused the joints that secured the rear of the aircraft to the main spar to fail at 22.28hrs. The tail of the aircraft fell amongst trees in the area of Oakdale Golf Course and lighting with the bodies of the flight engineer and rear gunner being found nearby. The wings and the front part of the aircraft then fell around the Kent Road area. The pilot's body was sadly found in the nose of the aircraft, probably preparing to jump as the break-up occurred. The engines had also been running so fast that they had broken free of the wings just before it hit the ground and they were found nearby. The locations of the two main impact sites were around 200 metres apart and the further references to this accident also quote wreckage falling on an electricty sub-station or "electric light works", this maybe what is now a David Lloyd spa and fitness centre. The incident is mentioned in No.6 Group's flying control log prior to the crash flying over the Knaresborough in obvious trouble and then later after an officer visited the crash scene. A location stated in this record gives wreckage been in the "backyard of a house at 54 Kent Road" and that only the rear half of the aircraft was there with the rest being searched for. A later note was made once the rest of the aircraft was located near the power station. The A.I.B. carried out an investigation into this accident and it was thought that the engines had over-revved because of a problem with the fuel system setting, a temporary lack of fuel followed by a fuel surge could have then led to the failure of the propeller pitch control to control the propellers correctly.
Pilot - F/Sgt Merlin Lindsay John RCAF (R/149284), aged 20, of Salmo, British Columbia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (C/H/9).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Joseph Quinn RAFVR (1675148), aged 20, of Dewsbury Moor. Buried Dewsbury Cemetery, Yorkshire (Cons O/152).
Rear Gunner - Sgt Constantin Robert Choma RCAF (R/185428), aged 21, of Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (C/H/8).
Navigator - F/Sgt Rex Harris Mitchell RCAF (10507). Slightly injured.
Bomb Aimer - P/O Gordon Leslie Crowe RCAF (J/25736). Injured.
Air Gunner - Sgt George Richard Harvey RAFVR (1800650). Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - WO2 Arthur Frank Marsden RCAF (R/104880). Uninjured.
I had previously suggested that some of the aircraft crashed onto the road outside of No.57 Kent Road but this appears to have been an error. It crashed behind the houses, was then brought out and piled up at the front to await collection. The top photograph shows wreckage from Halifax EB191 piled at the side of the road while the bottom two photographs show the area area in 2015.
Merlin John was born on 20th September 1923 at Trail, British Columbia, Canada and was the son of Henry and Mary Grace (nee Ainsley) John. Both his parents were British born and had emigrated to Canada where his father worked as a customs officer. Merlin was fresh out of high school when he enlisted for RCAF service to serve as aircrew, he enlisted at Calgary, Alberta on 19th January 1942. He trained as pilot in Canada and was awarded his Pilot's Wings on 5th February 1943. He sailed for the from New York and arrived in the UK the following month, over the coming months he trained at 3 (P)AFU and 23 OTU before posting to 1664 HCU on 24th November 1943.
Constantin Choma was born on 7th September 1942 at Montreal, Quebec, Canada and was the son of Michael and Josephine (nee Baroni) Choma. After leaving high school he worked as a cashier for a transport company in Montreal but also studied accountancy at night school. He enlisted for RCAF service on 20th August 1942 in Montreal for aircrew duties and trained as an air gunner, receiving his air gunner's flying badge on 28th May 1943. On arrival in the UK he too trained at 23 OTU before posting to 1664 HCU on 24th November 1943.
Mitchell, Marsden and Harvey were later posted to 408 Squadron and were killed on 29th July 1944 when Lancaster LL725 failed to return from Ops to Hamburg. All have no known grave and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Mitchell was 29, Marsden was 25 and Harvey was still just 20 years old. All three had flown twenty six operational flights.
Rex Mitchell was born on 11th November 1916 at Conquest, Saskatchewan, Canada and was a son of Talbert Harris and Eva Lucy (nee Holly) Mitchell. The family lived in Saksatchewan before settling in Hamilton, Ontario. As a young man he worked as a guard with the U.S. Department of Justice and moved to and then travelled through-out the USA while working there. He enlisted for RCAF service way back on 12th June 1939 in Hamilton and prior to that he had worked as a civilian as an orderly room clerk from February to June 1939 at the base of 119 (BR) Squadron, RCAF. He married Joan Wade in Hamilton in July 1941. After enlisting he served at the recruiting office in Hamilton and later at Air Force Head Quarters in Ottawa undertaking office duties. He received very favourable comments in various reports on his service while undertaking these office duties and his war could have been very successful at home in Canada but it seems that he wanted to do more in the way of an active roll in fighting the war so left this somewhat easier job in Canada to remuster as aircrew April 1942. He trained as a navigator and was awarded his air observer's flying badge on 6th November 1942, he was then posted overseas the following month and on arrival in the UK would train at 10 (O)AFU and 23 OTU before posting to 1664 HCU in November 1943. Receiving minor injuries on landing by parachute on 23rd December 1943 he was admitted to the sick quarters at Dishforth to recover. When fit he, Marsden and Harvey were posted to 1666 HCU on 27th January 1944 and on to 408 Squadron on 28th February 1944. Rex Mitchell received a commission on 15th April 1944. His brothers Ormond, James D, Clary R served in the Canadian Army while brothers Donald and Grant served in the RCAF.
Arthur Marsden was born on 16th April 1919 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and was the son of Arthur and Lucy (nee Joyce) Marsden. After leaving school he worked as an office clerk while also studying accountancy at business college. He enlisted for RCAF service in Montreal on 27th May 1941 and trained as a wireless operator / air gunner. He was awarded his air gunner's flying badge on 8th June 1942 and then undertook wireless operator training. On arrival in the UK he trained at 9 (O)AFU and 23 OTU before posting to 1664 HCU on 24th November 1943. Following the accident in Harrogate in December 1943 which killed half of his crew he (and the other survivors) were posted to 1666 HCU on 27th January 1943 and then on to 408 Squadron on 28th February 1943. He received a commission on 10th June 1944.
Additional documentation in respect of the accident has since come to light which includes a map and further photographs of the wreckage sites. The tail portion crashed into trees behind No.54 Kent Road. The main portion of wreckage fell onto land between the gym and Norwood Grove. The pilot's body was found near the front escape hatch in the main part of the wreckage at the sub-station. One of the crew, identified as being the rear gunner, was found near No.60 Kent Road and died shortly after, another was found in the field, behind a wall off Oakdale, near Lavender Court during the morning of 24th December 1943.