On the night of 26th / 27th November 1943 the crew of this 50 Squadron aircraft took off from Skellingthorpe airfield at 17.08hrs to undertake an operational flight to bomb Berlin. On their return to the UK thick fog over Lincolnshire effected visibility. Numerous Lincolnshire-based squadrons instructed their returning aircraft to divert north to land in Yorkshire following a few crashes to aircraft around midnight in Lincolnshire. The visibility over Yorkshire was not much better and a number of Lancasters would crash before they could land including at least three from 50 Squadron. The crew of Lancaster ED393 were diverted to land at Melbourne and thn re-diverted to Pocklington and while flying in their landing circuit the aircraft lost height and crashed at Canal Head, Pocklington. The crash destroyed the Canal Head public house and also a number of cottages on Ramsdale Terrace. Five of the crew were killed and also two civilians but remarkably two of the crew survived.
A memorial bench was sited near the crash site in more recent years but in 2014 a much more impressive memorial stone and plaque was erected through the efforts of local men Chris Brown and Charlie Ross. The latter had witnessed the crash seventy years earlier.
Pilot - P/O Joseph Watson Thompson DFM RAFVR (160916), aged 20, of Sudbury Hill, London. Buried Greenford Park Cemetery, Middlesex.
Flight Engineer - Sgt Reginald Walter Laws RAFVR (1431816), aged 20, of Tottenham. Buried Tottenham Cemetery, Middlesex.
Navigator - F/Sgt Stanley Chapman RAF (646335), aged 22, of Wimbledon. Buried Gap Road Cemetery, Wimbledon, Surrey.
Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt John Ralph Conlon RAFVR (1091325), aged 21, of Felling, Gateshead. Buried Heworth Churchyard, Durham.
Air Gunner - Sgt Allan Douglas Spiers RAFVR (710256), aged 29, of Johannesburg, South Africa. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, North Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator - Sgt C R Corbett. Injured.
Air Gunner - Sgt Trevor A Wyllie. Injured.
Civilian - Mrs Gertrude Bird, aged 69, of Canal Head, Pocklington. Buried Pocklington Cemetery.
Civilian - Mr Percy Paulucy Hopkinson, aged 41, of Sheffield. Residing at Canal Head. Buried City Road Cemetery, Sheffield.
Civilian - Mr Arthur Kneeshaw. Slightly injured.
Civilian - Mrs Noreen Murray (nee Kneeshaw). Trapped in her bedroom. Seriously injured.
Civilian - Mrs G Thompson. Suffered shock.
Civilian - Miss Thompson. Suffered shock.
Civilian - Miss Walsh. Cuts and shock.
Joseph Thompson received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 30th October 1943 (printed in the London Gazette after his death). He was awarded the DFM for service with 50 Squadron, Gazetted on 21st January 1944 (well after his death).
Rarely for flying accidents in Yorkshire during this stage in the war this incident made the newspapers, probably on account of the civilian deaths.