On 14th September 1943 this 158 Squadron aircraft took off from Lissett airfield at 15.08hrs so the crew could undertake a fighter affiliation training exercise with a Hurricane based at Leconfield. This exercise would involve the fighter making various simulated attacks on the Halifax giving the Halifax crew experience of keeping watch for hostile aircraft and then for them to communicate that evasive action needed to be taken and for the pilot to then make the necessary turns and dives to evade the fighter. The weather and visibility on this afternoon was good. This exercise began at 15.30hrs and was carried out at between 7,000 and 10,000 feet, ten minutes into the exercise with several steep diving turns already made the aircraft levelled out and flew into a cloud at around 7,000 feet. The aircraft was next seen at around 1,500 feet missing its port outer wing and falling out of the sky. It crashed soon after near Mill Farm, Fordon at 16.00hrs. Sadly all on board were killed in the incident, the number included a WAAF and she was one of only a handful of female fatalities resulting from flying accidents in Yorkshire.
An investigation found that although the evasive action taken during the flight was properly carried out it had caused the bolts attaching the end of the port wing, outboard of the port outer engine, had completely failed causing the outer portion of the wing to drop off. There would appear to have been a known fault with this part of the Halifax as this assembly was being re-designed at the time of this incident with a modified assembly fitted to all Halifaxes soon after the accident at Fordon. It also found that the two passengers were not authorised to be in the aircraft at the time it crashed.
Pilot - Sgt Ivor Raymond Trower-Foyan RAFVR (990159), aged 22 Of? Buried West Kirby (St.Bridget) Churchyard, Norfolk.
Flight Engineer - Sgt James Hunter RAFVR (1568637), aged 20, of Sanquhar. buried Sanquhar Churchyard Ext, Dumfries.
Navigator - Sgt Donald Allen Lawson RAFVR (1389676), aged 21, of Amersham. Buried Amersham Cemetery, Buckinghamshire.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Alexander Thompson RAFVR (1515448), aged 21, of Norton, Durham. Buried Norton Churchyard, Durham.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt John George Taylor RAFVR (1028370), aged 32, of Heacham. Buried Heacham Churchyard, Norfolk.
Air Gunner - Sgt Alexander Thomas Nicholas RAFVR (1316582), aged 22, of Nantyglo, Monmouthshire. Buried Brynmawr Cemetery, Wales.
Air Gunner - Sgt Howard Charles O'Neill RAAF (425205), aged 26, parents of Normanton, Queensland, Australia. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Passenger - LAC Arthur Nasmith Perrin RAFVR (1049981), aged 21, of Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Passenger (Meteorological Branch) - Sgt Olive Mary Morse WAAF (2040538), aged 25. Buried Witham Churchyard, Norfolk.
Olive "Daphne" Morse was born in the Braintree district of Essex in 1918 and was the daughter of Percival Ramey and Olive Sybilla (nee Evitt) Morse. Her address given in the London Gazette after her death was given as being Chipstead, Surrey on an entry for claimants on her estate and she is buried in Norfolk with her father.
A general memorial to 158 Squadron personnel and also commemorating Olive Morse in the memorial chapel at Eden Camp, Malton. More information about her family can be found at "www.chelmsfordwarmemorial.co.uk/second-world-war/chelmsford/ww2-morse-olive-mary.html". The gravestone photographs were found on "www.findagrave.com".
Arthur Perrin's grave in Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.
Howard O'Neill was born on 11th May 1917 at Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia and was the son of Charles Howard and May O'Neill. As a young man he worked as a miner at the Mount Isa Mines, in Queensland. He enlisted for RAAF service on 31st January 1942 in Brisbane and after basic training he embarked from Melbourne for the UK on 6th March 1943. On arrival in the UK he trained at 19 OTU and 1652 HCU before posting to 158 Squadron on 26th August 1943.