Wellington HE688 near Osmotherley.
On 23rd March 1944 this 17 Operational Training Unit aircraft took off from Silverstone airfield for an evening cross country training exercise at 19.15hrs. Whilst over the Northallerton area control of the aircraft was lost after the port engine failed and the aircraft went into a dive. While trying the pull the aircraft out of the dive the aircraft began to break up and it crashed into the ground at a near vertical angle at 21.05hrs near Little Beech Hill, west of Osmotherley. An explosion followed by a fire saw all six airmen killed. The three Commonwealth airmen were buried at Harrogate with RAF Leeming's Padre officiating.
In addition to the above facts I would also to like to add the following information that came from a phone call from me to an elderly Osmotherley resident in 2004. It may not be linked to this incident but is worthy of inclusion on one of these webpages. He stated that an "unknown" type of aircraft had clipped Thimbleby Moor, near the Chequers Inn on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors but had not crashed immediately. In his words it remained in the air loosing pieces as it went, only to crash in virtually the exact same place as where this Wellington came down. While there is no mention HE688 clipping the ground in the crash report it could be that the aircraft did indeed begin to break some distance away and only when this reached a critical level did the crash occur.
Pilot - F/O Edward Nigel Jeffreys Thomson RNZAF (NZ.416552), aged 21, Titirangi, Auckland, New Zealand. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (F/E/4).
Navigator - F/Sgt Bertram James Jones RAAF (424299), aged 21, of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (F/E/2).
Bomb Aimer - Sgt David Lancaster Watson RAAF (430076), aged 20, of East St.Kilda, Victoria, Australia. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (F/E/3).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Ernest Percy Moore RAFVR (1586101), aged 20, of Portslade, Sussex. Buried Portslade Cemetery, Sussex.
Air Gunner - Sgt Dennis Gwylin Stephens RAFVR (3011102), aged 19, of Stand, Lancashire. Buried Stand Churchyard, Lancashire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Benjamin Woodhead RAFVR (1685947), aged 21, of Lower Broughton, Salford, Lancashire. Buried Agecroft Cemetery, Salford, Lancashire.
F/Sgt Bertram Jones. My thanks to Mr Peter Jones of Australia for this photograph of his uncle. Bertram was married to Olive Jones and they lived at Kensington, New South Wales. His parents however lived in Sydney. He was born on 23rd December 1922 and prior to enlisting he was a welfare officer, he enlisted in Sydney on the 17th August 1942. His Uncle James Bertram Jones was killed in September 1917 at Ypres.
Edward Thomson's grave at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. I thank Mr Rob Mather for kindly supplying the photograph of him shown here.
David Watson was born on 2nd September 1923 and was a law student prior to enlisting in Melbourne. The photograph shown above is from the 17 OTU / 78 Course bomb aimer's photograph and is possibly him. I thank Mr Rob Mather for kindly supplying the photograph.
Probably Ernest Moore (from the 17 OTU / 78 Course wireless operator photograph). I thank Mr Rob Mather for kindly supplying the photograph.
These photographs show the general area for where the aircraft is thought to have crashed. Historians Ken Reast, Albert Pritchard and Eric Barton located the crash site in early 2000s with assistance from the land owner and a few small pieces were found at the site to confirm the location. While I have been given all of Eric's research his notes do not state when they located the site.
Wellington HE688 was built to contract B.124362/40 by Vickers Armstrong’s Ltd. at Hawarden and was taken on charge by 427 Squadron at Croft as new on 6th March 1943. On 29th / 30th March 1943 the aircraft was flown on an operational flight to Bochum and is stated on it's AM Form 78 to have sustained Cat.Ac/FB damage on this date. The 427 Squadron records state that on 29th March 1943 a Ju88 approached this Wellington but they do not state the Ju88 actually attacked the Wellington. The Wellington gunners opened fire and witnessed bursts hit the Ju88 which dived straight down out of sight (duval). The unit orb states that the Wellington landed at 01.43hrs at Croft but does not mention any damage resulting on this night at all. The aircraft was then not flown operationally for a few weeks so this would fit for it being damaged. The aircraft was repaired on site by a team from Vickers at Weybridge and was returned to 427 Squadron charge on 10th April 1943. On 2nd May 1943 the aircraft was transferred to 432 Squadron at Skipton on Swale. On 28th May 1943 it sustained minor battle damage on Ops, Cat.A/FB damage was the damage assessment and it was repaired on site. On 12th June 1943 it was involved in a ground accident at Skipton on Swale that killed a member of the crew who walked into a rotating propeller, probably no damage to the aircraft resulted. On 16th July 1943 the aircraft was transferred to 17 O.T.U. at Silverstone. On 15th November 1943 it was flown to 13 M.U. at Henlow for modifications and was returned to 17 O.T.U. on 13th December 1943. On 23rd March 1944 the aircraft was being flown on a cross country training flight when it suffered an engine failure, the pilot eventually lost control near Northallerton and the aircraft crashed near Osmotherley sadly killing all of the six crew on board. Cat.E2/FA Burnt damage was the damage assessment and the aircraft was struck off charge on 30th March 1944.
