Halifax EB275 at Topcliffe airfield.
During the evening of 1st September 1944 this 1659 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft was flown on a circuits and landings training exercise that used Topcliffe airfield. Whether the crew had already flown a series of short flights without incident is not yet known. After taking off from Topcliffe just after 22.30hrs the port outer engine failed and caught fire. They appear to have feathered the engine and operated the automatic fire extinguisher. After a six minute flight the crew landed at 22.40hrs but the aircraft began to swing to port with there being more power on the starboard side, the pilot over-corrected the swing and swung violently to starboard which resulted in the undercarriage collapsing. This crew completed their training and were posted to 408 Squadron on 12th September 1944.
Pilot - P/O Andrew Frank Scheelar RCAF (J/13449).
Navigator - P/O David Elkin RCAF (J/39299).
Bomb Aimer - P/O Fred Alfred Winter RCAF (J/37882).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - P/O Frank Taylor Leithead RCAF (J/24304).
Air Gunner - P/O Lawrence John Benville RCAF (J/40216).
Air Gunner - P/O William Albert Baker RCAF (J/41858).
Flight Engineer - Sgt John Daly RAFVR (1880201).