Halifax DG418 at Rufforth airfield.
Just before 00.12hrs on 7th June 1944 this 1663 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft swung on take off at Rufforth airfield during a circuits and landings training exercise. The pilots managed to correct the swing and safely slow the aircraft without damage. The instructor then began to taxi the aircraft back to the other end of the airfield so that the crew could attempt another take off but while taxying the aircraft across the airfield part of it left the concrete and ran onto the grass. The tail wheel dropped into a drain that was just two yards from the edge of the concrete and broke what would have been a weak tail wheel mounting.
Pilot (instructor) - Acting S/Ldr Charles Robertson MacDonald DFC RAFVR (101516).
Pilot (pupil) - Cpt Mathieu Lafaye FFAF (000808).