Beaufighter V8566 near Scorton airfield.
During the night of 6th / 7th May 1943 the crew of this 604 Squadron aircraft were undertaking a ground controlled interception exercise and had carried out the exercise successfully for around ninety minutes. The crew received an instruction to return to base which they acknowledged and it took around another hour to return to the Scorton area. On their approach to land the aircraft suffered from starboard engine failure, the pilot attempted to fly back to Scorton airfield to land but the port engine then failed and the aircraft lost height. Realising the aircraft could not make the airfield he was left to force-land the aircraft near Cross Hills Farm, about a mile north of Scorton village. The wreckage caught fire but the crew escaped serious injury. The crash investigation found that it was possible that the pilot had got confused with the fuel tank selection and had allowed the selected tanks to run dry resulting in a double engine failure. The pilot managed to pull clear his crewmate. The crash probably occurred after midnight so was on 7th June 1943. The unit records state the crash time was "25.20hrs".
Pilot - Lt M Ree.
Navigator / Radar Operator - Lt A Aggaard. Slightly injured.
Historians Eric Barton, Albert Pritchard and Ken Reast sought permission from the landowner to look for where this aircraft crashed and located small fragments to confirm the location. I have been given Eric's research but unfortunately he did not note when they searched. They located items including 20mm cannon cases and other items shown in the photograph above.
Beaufighter V8566 was built to contract B.30264/39 by the Bristol Aeroplane Company Ltd. at Filton and was awaiting collection in October 1942. The aircraft was taken on charge as new shortly after by 219 Squadron at Scorton but the date it arrived is not yet known. 219 Squadron moved to Catterick on 24th April 1943 and appear to have left V8566 behind to be taken on charge the same day by 604 Squadron who moved into Scorton from Ford. As a result of the crash on 7th May 1943 Cat.E2/FA Burnt was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge.
