Wellington HZ530 on Towthorpe Wold.
On 12th May 1943 the crew of this 466 Squadron aircraft took off from Leconfield at 23.34hrs for an operational flight to bomb Duisburg, they appear to have bombed the target area and made for home without incident. When they arrived over the East Yorkshire area they contacted base stating they were unable to locate Leconfield airfield because of poor visibility, because of the poor weather they were given an instruction to divert to land at Linton on Ouse where the weather was better because of poor weather but the crew turned this down because of a lack of fuel in the aircraft. For around twenty minutes the crew were then given a series of directional barings which should have brought them over the airfield but it would seem the aircraft was by now much further from Leconfield than they thought. The pilot descended through cloud but the cloud base was down to ground level across the Yorkshire Wolds and the aircraft flew into the ground on Towthorpe Wold at 05.50hrs near Towthorpe High Barn with the pilot probably never seeing the ground. The aircraft broke up and part of the wreckage caught fire and sadly all on board were killed. The crash investigation made a number of observations; it was not understood why the crew had not attempted to pick up a direction finding beam which could have easily directed them in to land safely at either Driffield or at Breighton, or why the crew believed that they did not have enough fuel left to divert to Linton on Ouse or why the pilot descended through cloud just before the crash occurred which was something pilots were instructed not to do (but despite this many aircraft crashed on high ground in Britain because of this). The exact location of the crash is not yet known but the aerial photographs on Google Earth offer one possible scar on the ground near the summit of Towthorpe Wold and just metres from what is now the North Yorkshire border.
Pilot - F/Sgt Charlie Wilson Trinder RAAF (411970), aged 29, of Paddington, New South Wales. Australia. Buried Driffield Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Observer - Sgt Harry Russell RAFVR (1320125), aged 20, of Enfield, Middlesex. Buried Chestnut New Burial Ground, Hertfordshire.
Navigator - Sgt Douglas Arthur Mark Davidson RNZAF (NZ411865), aged 23, of Timaru, Canterbury, New Zealand. Buried Driffield Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Daniel Anthony Traill RAF (657397), aged 23, wife of Newburgh, Fife. Buried Driffield Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Ernest Gordon Leonard Giggs RAFVR (1323461), aged 20, of Shepherd's Bush, London. Buried Mortlake Cemetery, Surrey.
Douglas Davidson born 11th September 1919 in Timaru and was the son of Charles and Catherine Davidson (nee Healey).
Charlie Trinder was born on 10th May 1914 in Toowoomba, Queensland to an English father and Scotish mother. His family must have moved to New South Wales when he was young as he attended school in Granville and later Paddington. Prior to enlisting into the RAAF in Sydney on 21st June 1941 he had turned his hand at a whole host of jobs including being a salesman, truck driver, farm labourer, a cook and a weaver. After basic training in Australia he sailed for further training in Canada on 13th November 1941 where he was awarded his Wings on 27th March 1942. On arrival in the UK in May 1942 he trained at 15 (P)AFU begining 30th June 1942, 11 OTU begining 17th November 1942 and 1651 HCU begining 11th March 1943. He was posted to 466 Squadron on 16th April 1943. He left a wife but his service record does not list that he had any children.
Sgt Traill's gravestone in Driffield Cemetery. He is also commemorated on a war memorial in the parish of Kells and Balrathboyne in County Meath, Irish Republic which would suggest this was where he was originally from.
Wellington HZ530 was built to contract B.92439/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Squires Gate and was taken on charge by 466 Squadron at Leconfield on 3rd May 1943. Ten days later it crashed on the Yorkshire Wolds. Cat.E2/FB Burnt damage was the assessment of the wreckage and it was struck off charge on 22nd May 1943. It had clocked up just over six hours total flying time from new.
