Halifax EB156 at Marston Moor airfield.
During the morning of 2nd July 1944 this 1664 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft took off from Dishforth to undertake a circuits and landings training exercise. Exactly what happened need further investigation. On the face of it, the sourced documents that mention this incident suggest that owing to poor weather at Dishforth the crew were diverted to land at Marston Moor. At 09.40hrs the aircraft landed on the wrong runway in poor visibility after a twenty minute flight, unfortunately the aircraft swung off the runway and the undercarriage eventually collapsed causing severe damage to the aircraft. I would question whether the whole of the exercise had lasted just twenty minutes or whether it was the final flight that lasted twenty minutes from taking off from Dishforth to the diverted landing at Marston Moor.
Pilot (instructor) - P/O Malcolm Francis Gray DFM RCAF (J/19383).
Pilot (pupil) - F/O Donald Laughlin Buchanan RCAF (C/13128).