On 11th April 1944 the crew of this 30 Operational Training Unit aircraft took off from Hixon airfield to undertake a night cross-country training flight. The course of the flight took them over the Goole area and at 21.00hrs the aircraft flying through cloud when it dived into ground. The aircraft crashed into a field near Sand Hall Farm, around a mile south-east of Goole and unfortunately all on board were killed. This webpage is very basic but as learn more about the incident and crew I will develop it.
Pilot - P/O Charles Henry George Gale RAFVR (174617), aged 31, of Herringfleet. Buried Herringfleet Churchyard, Suffolk.
Navigator - P/O Francis George Newell RAFVR (168745), aged 34, of Sands, High Wycombe. Buried High Wycombe Cemetery, Buckinghamshire.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt Robert Charles Smith RAFVR (1575616), aged 20, of Bulwell, Nottingham. Buried Nottingham Northern Cemetery (E18/4).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Ronald Victor Smith RAFVR (1615009), aged 21, of Little Yeldham. Buried Little Yeldham Churchyard, Essex.
Air Gunner - Sgt Sydney Philip RAFVR (1568737), aged 21, of New Pitsligo. New Pitslig Churchyard, Aberdeenshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Armel Gordon O'Connor RAFVR (1896465), aged 19, of Guildford. Buried Guildford Cemetery, Surrey.
Charles Gale received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 6th April 1944.
Francis Newell received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 16th January 1944.
With permission of the landowner, small fragments of the aircraft were found on the surface at the crash site by members of Howden Youth Centre as part of a Duke of Edinburgh Award project assisted by historians Ken Reast, Albert Pritchard and Eric Barton in May 1999 to confirm the location. The fragment shown above is one of these items and was retained by Eric.