Wellington Z1724 near Danby Wiske.
On 1st March 1943 the crew of this 420 Squadron aircraft were undertaking a navigation exercise and took off from Middleton St.George at 14.20hrs. Half an hour after taking off the aircraft was seen flying level and at a height of around 2,000 feet near Danby Wiske. Without warning to witnesses on the ground the port wing was seen to collapse and break off resulting in the aircraft then diving into the ground from around 1,500 feet. There was no time for anyone to escape the aircraft and all on board were sadly killed. An investigation found that a failure in joints in the main spar had resulted in the port mainplane collapsing. The crash site was near High Brockholme, between Danby Wiske, Yafforth and Streetlam. The port wing landed around a mile and a half from the main crash site.
Wellington Z1724 was built to contract B.97887/40 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd, at Hawarden and was awaiting collection in April 1942. On 10th May 1942 it was received by 48 MU at Hawarden and was then taken on charge by 420 Squadron at Skipton on Swale on 12th August 1942. It sustained minor Cat.Ac/FB damage during an operational flight on 6th October 1942 which was repaired on site by a team from Vickers at Weybridge. The incident is not fully recorded in the unit records but it does state that one aircraft sustained flak damage to the hydraulics that caused the aircraft to overshoot on landing. 420 Squadron moved to Middleton St.George on 15th October 1942 and the aircraft rejoined them on 28th November 1942. As a result of the crash on 1st March 1943 the aircraft was clearly destroyed and Cat.E2/FA Burnt damage was the damage assessment. It was struck off charge on 11th March 1943.
Pilot - P/O Philip Edward Thompson Townsend RCAF (J/16876), aged 21, of Balgonie, Saskatchewan, Canada. Buried Darlington Western Cemetery, Co.Durham.
Navigator - F/Sgt Jack Wreakes RAFVR (1061805), aged 21, of Barnsley. Buried Barnsley Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Navigator - F/O Samuel Spector RCAF (J/12979), aged 27, of Montreal, Province of Quebec. Canada. Buried Darlington Western Cemetery, Co.Durham.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - P/O Ernest Maurice Hollowell RAFVR (135418), aged 34, of Kingsthorpe, Northampton. Buried Kingsthorpe Cemetery, Northampton.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - P/O Kenneth Joseph Brown RAFVR (138498), aged 34. Wife of South Shore, Blackpool, Lancashire. Buried Darlington Western Cemetery, Co.Durham.
Samual Spector was born on 6th July 1915 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and was the son of Israel M. Spector and Anneta (nee Ashkenazy) Spector. Both his parents were born in Odessa, Russia (now Ukraine) but had emigrated to Canada and became naturalized Canadian citizens. As a young man Samuel worked on various yachts during cruised around the West Indies between 1933 and 1935, he then worked as a gold prospector and miner at various locations in Quebec and Ontario until 1939 when he was offered a job undertaking topographical survey work for the Dominion Bureau of Mines and Resources. He resigned this job after a few months to enlist for RCAF service but unfortunately his application in September 1939 did not result in enlistment due to what he later described as 'medical reasons'. He then re-applied in April 1941 and again nothing happened. He finally enlisted on 6th September 1941 in Montreal and after training in Canada was awarded his air observer's flying badge on 23rd May 1942. His service records then seem to suggest that he was posted to Ferry Command in Canada and trained at 1 C.N.S. and he received a
commission on 20th July 1942 while there. He doesn't appear to have been part of a crew that ferried an aircraft from Canada to the UK because it took him from 21st August 1942 until the end of month to make the trip. He was then posted directly from the aircrew reception centre to 420 Squadron on 9th September 1942. He was later posted to 16 OTU on 8th February 1943 and back to 420 Squadron on 13th February 1943.
Philip Townsend was born on 15th January 1915 and was the son of Philip Humphrey Burnet and Helen Louise (nee Thompson) Townsend. "Ted" was born at Regina and educated at Balgonie before enlisting at Regina, Saskatchewan on 4th November 1940 and was a student at the time of enlisting. While training at 6 EFTS at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan he was the pilot of Tiger Moth 4043 which crashed near the airfield on 2nd March 1941 and seriously injured him. He recovered and later completed his training. The Townsend Lake, Saskatchewan is named in his honour.
Kenneth Brown received a commission on 20th December 1942 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency).
Ernest Hollowell receieved a commission on 23rd September 1942 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency). I credit "Ripley" with the photograph of his gravestone.
Jack Wreakes is commemorated on a plaque in Barnsley Grammar School for former pupils killed in the Second World War. I credit Stephen Farnell with the photograph of his gravestone.
In Autumn 2014 Ken Reast, Albert Pritchard, Eric Barton and I located the crash site near High Brockholme Farm through the efforts of Ken tracking down witnesses to the incident in the locality. A number of small fragments of an aircraft were located and after gentle cleaning enough evidence that the site was the Wellington was found. I thank Mr T. Hugill for allowing our visit. Unfortunately this would be the final crash site my friend and fellow air historian Albert Pritchard would locate due to ill health. He died in 2017. The photograph below shows him at the crash site of Wellington Z1724. Age then took it's toll on Eric "Dick" Barton and it is almost certainly the final site I will visit with him. Ken is thankfully still fit and raring to go anywhere at a moments notice. All three have been a great help to me over the years and good friends.
The dial from the flap indicator.
Part of the Wellington's geodetic structure showing a typical Wellington part number with the "285.." prefix.
A brass union.
A .303 bullet case show the date of manufacture of 1942 and the "RG" lettering to the left of the date signifies it was made in the Radway Green factory.
