Hudson P5134 near North Cowton.
On 8th June 1943 this No.1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit aircraft took off from Thornaby airfield at 23.35hrs to undertake a training flight. Due to bad weather the aircraft was unable to land at Thornaby on completion of the flight and the crew received instructions to divert to Middleton St.George. The pilot then requested that they land at Scorton and was in their landing circuit when the aircraft turned sharply and stalled. Because the aircraft was coming in to land there was not enough height to recover from this stall and the aircraft dived into the ground near East Lingy Moor Farm, North Cowton and sadly all on board were killed. The time of the crash was recorded as being at 02.45hrs on 9th June 1943.
Pilot - Sgt Francis Gordon Haydon RAFVR (1443638), aged 31. Buried Badley Churchyard, Suffolk.
Navigator - Sgt John James Mangum RAFVR (1332282), aged 22. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Norman Joseph Collins RNZAF (NZ.415992), aged 27, of Rakaia, Canterbury, New Zealand. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt Rex Donald Wallace RNZAF (NZ.414533), aged 26, of Coromandel, Auckland, New Zealand. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Norman Collins and his gravestone in Thornaby Cemetery.
Rex Wallace and his gravestone in Thornaby Cemetery.
Sgt Mangum's gravestone in Thornaby Cemetery.
Francis Haydon's grave at Badley, Suffolk. I thank Andrew Nott for kindly supplying this photograph for inclusion on this webpage.
Eric Barton, Albert Pritchard and Ken Reast sought permission from the landowner to field walk the area and search for fragments of the aircraft on the surface. The photographs shown above were taken by Eric Barton and show the general area of the site in March 2005 and fragments either they found or a collection that was found and he re-photographed. The bits shown in the photograph below he retained and are current with me awaiting rehoming.
Hudson P5134 was built by Lockheed in California, USA and shipped to the UK in early 1940. It was assembled and issued to 10 MU on 17th January 1940. It was then taken on charge by No.1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit on 5th April 1940 at Silloth. Over the course of the next three years it remained with this unit but was damaged several times. It then moved to Thornaby with the unit on 22nd March 1943. On 9th June 1940 it crashed near Thornaby, Cat.E/FA damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge on 21st June 1943.
