During the early hours of 27th September 1943 the crew of this aircraft were flying a night navigation flight as part of the training course at 19 Operational Training Unit. They took off from Kinloss airfield at 00.50hrs and the training flight was to have used the turning points of Inverarie, St.Abbs Head, Hexham, Goole, Whitby, Inverarie and returning to Kinloss. All appears to have gone well for the first part of the flight and their last radio message was at 02.55hrs when they made contact with Middleton St.George. At 03.00hrs the aircraft was heard to be circling by members of the Royal Observer Corp for around ten minutes prior to the eventual crash at 03.10hrs. The aircraft was found to have crashed near Norton le Clay in a field south of Dishforth airfield on land between Rooker Hill Farm and Broom Close Farm, on impact an intense fire broke out and the aircraft was completely destroyed. An investigation could not determine much, it found that both engines were running at the time of the crash and that the pilot had probably lost control of the aircraft but it could not established why control would have been lost.
This incident has a rare occurance for a crash site on land in Yorkshire in the fact that the pilot has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. This either means his body was never found, or, a body was located but it was not possible to identify him.
Pilot - Sgt Donald Thomas William Cammies RAFVR (1339016), aged 20, of Newport, Monmouthshire. Commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
Navigator - Sgt Edgar Ronald Rogers RAFVR (1338400), aged 20, of Churchdown, Gloucester. Buried Gloucester Old Cemetery.
Navigator - Sgt Clewin Arthur Hughes RAFVR (1382173), aged 22. Probably born Edmonton district, England. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Bomb Aimer - F/O John William Wallace RCAF (J/24145), aged 28, of Weston, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt William Stephen Robinson RAFVR (1577597), aged 22, of Birmingham. Buried Yardley Cemetery, Birmingham.
Air Gunner - Sgt Ronald Charles Fowler RAFVR (1893913), aged 34, wife of Marlow. Buried Marlow Cemetery, Buckinghamshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Harry Dickson RAFVR (1824449), aged 18, of Roberton. Buried Roberton Churchyard, Hawick.
John Wallace was born on 2nd March 1915 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was the son of Fredrick and Jane (nee Reed) Wallace. Both his parents were born in England and had emmigrated after their marriage in Middlesex in 1901. They would have two other sons and his father had died in 1937. The family lived in Weston, Ontario. John married Constance Colgate in 1934 and they had two children. His wife's brother would later serve in the RCAF and was in England at the time of John's death. As a young man John attended Weston college and studied book-keeping and shorthand but he was working as a knitter for Weldrest Hosiery in Toronto when he enlisted for RCAF service in Toronto on 21st May 1942. After training in Canada he was awarded an Air Observer's flying badge on 5th March 1943 and also a commission on the same date. He was technically an air bomber but air bombers appear to have received the wings of air observers around this time which I have yet to understand. After a period of leave he was posted overseas in April 1943. He initially then trained at 2 (O)AFU from 15th June 1943 and was posted to 19 OTU at Kinloss on 13th July 1943. I thank his grandson Mr Kent Wallace for contacting me in November 2013 and for the information he was able to provide this account.
As a young man Donald Cammies worked for the Home and Colonial Stores in Newport before enlisting for RAF service in 1941. He undertook pilot training in Canada where he was awarded his pilot's wings. This incident has a rare occurance for a crash site on land in Yorkshire in the fact that the pilot has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. This either means his body was never found, or, a body was located but it was not possible to identify him. He is also commemorated on the Newport war memorial and also at his former school at St.Julian's High School. The photograph of him shown above was found on the "newportsdead" website.
Clewin Hughes' grave at Harrogate.
Harry Dickson, photograph found on the "Scottishwargraves" website.
