Halifax JP129 at Riccall airfield.
On the night of 27th / 28th September 1944 this 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft was flown on a training flight, the nature of the flight was probably either a cross country training flight or a Bullseye training flight as the aircraft was in the air for nearly six hours. The exercise appears to have been carried out but during the flight the pilot's oxygen system may have had a problem. The crew flew the aircraft back to the landing circuit of Riccall airfield when the port outer engine failed and then the starboard inner engine began to cut out. Loosing height, the pilot made a wheels up forced-landing at 01.07hrs towards the north boundary of Riccall airfield with port outer propeller feathered and the starboard inner engine failing. A number of the crew sustained injuried and the aircraft was badly damaged. This crew appear to have gone their seperate ways shortly after this incident.
Pilot - F/O Robert Fender RAFVR (170125). Injured.
Navigator - Sgt R P Campbell RAFVR (1232199).
Bomb Aimer - Sgt C P T Brown RAFVR (1564444). Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt J Donaldson RAFVR (1399534).
Flight Engineer - Sgt William Blyth Morton RAFVR (1785374). Injured.
Air Gunner - Sgt K A Ward RAFVR (2221921).
Air Gunner - Sgt R O Walton RAFVR (842531). Injured.