Halifax JD320 near Skipwith.
On 25th July 1943 this 77 Squadron Halifax took off from Elvington at 22.30hrs with the crew to set course for an operational flight to bomb Essen. Soon after taking off both the starboard engines failed and it was thought that the pilot was trying to land the aircraft in a cornfield but struck trees just prior to crash landing at 22.40hrs around two miles north of Skipwith. The crew were lucky, they survived but the aircraft caught fire and was destroyed. The squadron records state that the crew were assisted from the aircraft by members of an anti-aircraft unit that was in the immediate area of the crash. The crew were all injured to some degree, one of which could well have sustained injuries that cut short his flying, detailed below.
Pilot - Sgt Dennis Arthur Robert King RAAF (416684).
Second Pilot - Sgt Thomas William Hill RAFVR (1048306).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Arnold Richard Downes RAFVR (1464831).
Navigator - Sgt Arthur John Birch RAFVR (1433328).
Bomb Aimer - F/O George Albert Renshaw RAFVR (129484).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Thomas William Elwood Terry RAFVR (1029668).
Air Gunner - Sgt Charles William George Graham RAFVR (1377569).
Air Gunner - Sgt Dennis Frank Holway RAFVR (813075).
Eric Barton, Albert Pritchard and Ken Reast located a crash site near Mill Cottage, Thorganby with permission from the landowner in September 2007 which they believed was Halifax JD320. Eric spent a long time in the locality tracking down elderly witnesses to the many incidents in this general area. While my older information suggests the site was near Skipwith, the AM Form 1180 for JD320 states it crashed some two miles north of Skipwith. The location of the wreckage found by Eric is more like 3+ miles north of Skipwith but where this site is located it's hard to see why Skipwith was used as a reference point when Thorganby is far closer. Even if it crashed two miles north of Skipwith then Thorganby would still make a better reference point. The two photographs shown here are both Erics and show the Mill Cottage, Thorganby site with associated finds. In paperwork of Erics he also has Halifax JD320 and Halifax LL544 as crashing both at Wake House (a mile or so north of Skipwith and at a location that fits perfectly with the location given on the AM Form 1180 for LL544). The problem I have is if JD320 didn't crash at Mill Cottage then what did!! Eric said that he found parts at Mill Cottage that bore makers inspection stamps from English Electric and JD320 was built by them.
Arnold Downes was born in Hackney, London on 3rd Janurary 1921 and was the son of William Denham and Caroline Ann Downes. He was sadly killed flying in 77 Squadron Halifax JD465 on 24th August 1943 when the aircraft crashed near Biesenthal on Ops to Berlin.
Charles Graham was born on 1st May 1911 at Edmonton, Middlesex and was the son of Charles William Arthur and Lilian Saisy (nee Spencer) Graham. He married Norah Kathleen Seaton in 1938 and later lived at East Barnet, Hertfordshire. He received a commission on 7th January 1944 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency). He was lost without trace on 20th February 1944 when Halifax LL143 never returned from Ops to Leipzig. He was thirty three years old.
George Renshaw received a commission on 18th September 1942 to P/O on probation (emergency), rising to F/O on probation (war subs) on 19th March 1943 and F/Lt (war subs) on 17th September 1944. He relinquished his rank of F/Lt on 13th July 1945 on the grounds of medical unfitness. He sustained serious leg injuries in the accident to JD320 as recorded above and may not regained fitness to continue his RAF service, so his commission was relinquished. I have struggled to locate any more information on him.
Dennis Holway was born in Taunton, Somerset on 11th September 1918. He had enlisted for RAF service on 6th December 1936. He received a commission on 8th August 1944 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency), rising to F/O (war subs) on 8th February 1945. He married in Bristol in 1946 and died in Bath in January 1971.
Thomas Hill was born on 15th February 1915 at Stockton on Tees, Durham and was the son of Joseph Robert and Margaret Ellen (nee Rees) Hill. He enlisted for RAF service on 16th April 1941 and went on to receive a commission in December 1943. P/O Hill (169912) was killed on 22nd January 1944 flying with 35 Squadron. He is buried in Berlin War Cemetery. I thank his grandson-in-law, Mr David Sankey, for contacting me in December 2011.
Dennis King was born on 14th December 1920 at Adelaide, South Australia and was the son of Frank Herbert King
He enlisted for RAAF service on 16th August 1941 at Adelaide. Once in the UK he trained at 15 OTU and 1652 HCU before posting to 77 Squadron on 4th May 1943. After serving with 77 Squadron he was posted to 1658 HCU in November 1943 then 1660 HCU the following month.
Thomas Terry was born at Hull, East Yorkshire on 17th July 1920 and was the son of Thomas and Lilian May (nee Roberts) Terry. He married Beatrice Spinks in 1943 and died in October 1996.
Arthur Birch was born on 13th January 1920 at Coventry, Warwickshire and was the son of Edward Paul and Mary Kate (nee Harris) Birch. He enlisted for RAF service on 10th May 1941. His mother was living at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada by 1943. Arthur died in May 1982 at Oxford.
