At 17.45hrs on 22nd June 1944 this Central Gunnery School aircraft was in the process of taking off from Catfoss airfield so the crew could undertake a local flying exercise, as the aircraft picked up speed one of the engines failed, a swing developed resulting in the aircraft running off the northern side of the airfield. It came to a stop very badly damaged in small field at Nunkeeling but remarkably neither of those on board was seriously injured. The pilot was later commended for his actions in avoiding people on the ground. The aircraft was part of the Central Gunnery School training unit. In November 2004 historians Rodney Robinson, Ken Reast, Albert Pritchard and Eric Barton sought permission from the land owner and located small fragments of the aircraft under what was then the lawn of a garden at Woodlands House, Nunkeeling.
Pilot - W/Co Archibald Litlle Winskill DFC & Bar RAFVR (84702).
Passenger (Senior Engineering Officer) - F/Lt W A Webb.
Beaufighter KW281 after the crash (photographs via Albert Pritchard).
Archie Winskill was one of the top RAF officers of the day and his life is very well documented on the internet. He was born in January 1917 and served with 72 Squadron and 603 Squadron during the latter stages of the Battle of Britain. He was later awarded the DFC for service with 41 Squadron, Gazetted 6th January 1942 and the Bar to DFC for service with 232 Squadron, Gazetted 27th July 1943. At the time of the accident near Catfoss in June 1944 he was instructing at the Central Gunnery School. After leaving the RAF he was a Captain of the Queen's Flight. He was later awarded the CBE in 1960 and was Knighted in 1980. He died in August 2005.