Halifax HR691 at Riccall airfield.

During the morning of 30th July 1944 this 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft was being flown on a training flight that saw the pilot make his first solo attempt at landing a Halifax. The aircraft took off from Riccall airfield at 11.24hrs and seven minutes later was in the position to make an approach to land. The aircraft unfortunately made a heavy tail-first landing, bounced, again landed on the tail wheel first and sustained minor damage to the tail wheel assembly. The AM Form 1180 for the incident also state that on the previous landing by a different pilot that a violent tail wheel shimy occurred, it was inspected and passed as ok. The damage to the aircraft after this heavy landing may have been a combination of both the heavy landing and also the violent shimy earlier.

Pilot - W/O Douglas Leonard Wood RAFVR (1316023).