Halifax DG422 at Rufforth airfield.
During the evening of 26th September 1944 this 1663 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft was flown on a training flight. On board was a RAF pilot instructor, a pupil pilot and seven further airmen who were all French. With the pupil pilot at the controls and while flying in a strong wind the aircraft undershot a landing at Rufforth airfield at 23.52hrs. The port wheel struck a ditch which broke the port undercarriage, it then struck a barbed wire fence and came to rest facing the direction it had approached from. The main problem that caused the incident was the language barrier between the instructor and the trainee crew. The pupil pilot and his crew were later posted to 346 Squadron.
Pilot (instructor) - F/Lt James Broad Robinson DFM RAFVR (144283).
Pilot (pupil) - Cpt Roger Martin FFAF (000108).