Lancaster ED807 near Bursea, Holme on Spalding Moor.
On the night of 13th / 14th April 1943 the crew of this 101 Squadron aircraft were tasked with their first operational flight and the target was to have been to bomb Spezia but soon after taking off the aircraft suffered the port outer engine failing. The crew aborted the operational flight and jettisoned the bomb load in the sea of Flamborough Head and attempted to return to base but on the approach to land at Holme on Spalding Moor airfield the aircraft stalled and crashed. Sadly all seven airmen on board were died as a result of the crash. The time given on the AM Form 1180 is 22.20hrs which would have been on 13th April 1943 but some of the dates of death were on the 14th April 1943 suggesting that some died of injuries rather than were killed outright.
Lancaster ED807 was built to contract B.69274/40 by A.V. Roe and Co. Ltd. at Chadderton. The aircraft was taken on charge by 101 Squadron at Holme on Spalding Moor on 31st March 1943. As a result of the crash on 13th April 1943 Cat.E2/FB Burnt damage was the damage assessment. It was struck off charge on 26th April 1943 when the paperwork caught up, it be amassed a grand total of just 2.15 hours flying from new.
Pilot - Sgt Thomas Fee RAFVR (1527088). Buried Whitehaven Cemetery, Cumbria (5/J/50). Died 13th April 1943.
Flight Engineer - Sgt Vernon Roderick Ager RAF (576419), aged 19, of Greenford, Middlesex. Buried Holme on Spalding Moor churchyard, Yorkshire. Died 13th April 1943.
Navigator - F/O Victor Cook RAFVR (129353). Buried Chesham burial ground, Buckinghamshire. Died 14th April 1943.
Navigator / Bomb Aimer - Sgt Robert Brough RAFVR (1390807), aged 29, of Dunfermline. Buried Dunfermline Cemetery, Fife. Died 14th April 1943.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt John Smith RAFVR (1028126), aged 24, of Chorley. Buried Chorley Cemetery, Lancashire. Died 14th April 1943.
Air Gunner - Sgt George William John Davison RAFVR (1606469), aged 19, of Stockwell. Buried Streatham Cemetery, London. Died 13th April 1943.
Air Gunner - Sgt Jack Beatson RAFVR (1456992), aged 21, of Grimesthorpe, Sheffield. Buried Shiregreen Cemetery, Sheffield, Yorkshire. Died 14th April 1943.
Thomas Fee was born in Whitehaven, Cumbria in 1911. As a child his family emigrated to Pennsilvania, USA for seven years but returned to Whitehaven when Tom was fourteen years old. He began work as a builder and married in 1931 in Whitehaven, later having two daughters. He enlisted into the RAFVR in August 1941 and trained as a pilot in the USA before returning to England and later joining 101 Squadron.
The photograph of Thomas Fee shown above was found on the internet some years ago but I did not note a person to credit for the photograph at the time and could not find it again when this webpage was created.
Vernon Ager, Jack Beatson, Robert Brough, John Smith's gravestones. Credit to me for Ager's, Stephen Farnell for Beatson's, Marc Kinleyside for Brough's, Peter Lucas for Smith's and Tom Buttress for Davison's entry on Streatham cemetery wall shown below.
Victor Cook received a commission on 14th August 1942 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) and rose to F/O on probation (war subs) on 14th February 1943. Credit to "Julia&Keld" for the photograph of his gravestone.
