Halifax BB248 at Topcliffe airfield.
During the afternoon of 15th May 1944 the crew of this 1659 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft were detailed to fly a fighter affiliation exercise. On taking off from Topcliffe at 16.30hrs the crew raised the undercarriage before the aircraft was properly airborne and while the aircraft then bounced and then took off this damaged the undercarriage mechanism. It would not then go up or down properly. After an hour long flight attempt to fix the lowering of it a landing was made at Topcliffe but the undercarriage collapsed. Four days later the pilot and his crew were posted to 419 Squadron.
Pilot - F/O R M Wilson RCAF (J/25578).