During the morning of 19th July 1944 this 420 Squadron aircraft was to have been used by this crew to undertake a fighter affiliation exercise. Just before this crew began their flight the aircraft was used by another crew to carry out the same type of exercise. The same fighter aircraft appears to have remained in the air, flying around the Tholthorpe area to await the start of the second exercise after the necessary service checks had been made to the Halifax. The visibility below 3,000 feet was good but thick cloud was present beyond that. At 11.25hrs the crew of the aircraft had been given clearance to take off, the aircraft took off and climbed away to around 1,400 feet when it was seen to make a steep vertical climbing turn to port, the turn continued through ninety degrees and eventually it rolled over to being inverted and then further to being back to the normal way up. The aircraft then went into a flat spin and at 11.33hrs it crashed near Carle House, just off the airfield boundary on the south-east side of the airfield and behind a wood. It was thought that the crew had seen the fighter they were to have the affiliation with as they left the ground and had attempted to follow it after it made a steep climbing turn to port roughly over the airfield area but the Halifax was not as adjile an aircraft and control was lost. After the crash a fire broke out and the aircraft was destroyed.

The accident documentation does not make this clear but as the aircraft appears to have been in the air for longer than would make the flight a simple steep climb on take off followed by a stall and fall to earth. If it took off at 11.25hrs and crashed eight minutes later this would give it plenty of time to climb away and to have then begun a circuit of the airfield as it gained height. Given the crash location is literally at the other side of the airfield boundary fence the aircraft must have been over the airfield when control was lost as it crashed with little forward speed. It realistically cannot have climbed near-vertically from take off, stalled, fipped over and flatspun into the ground as this would take far less than eight minutes. More feasably it took off, began a circuit of the airfield to allow it to gain height and while flying the circuit the crew saw the fighter and tried to make a tight turn to follow it.

F/Lt James Wards Stiles RCAF (C/9892) was Tholthorpe airfield's Electrical Officer in July 1944, he received a Mention in Despatches for his actions at the crash site, his award was printed in the London Gazette on 1st January 1945. Hugh Halliday has located the recommendation for his award which stated "Flight Lieutenant Stiles has been employed as Station Electrical Officer since January 1944. His initiative and enthusiasm in his work as well as his skilful direction of tradesmen under him have enabled the completion of the most difficult tasks in record time and has resulted in the operation of a higher number of aircraft against enemy targets. He showed a disregard for personal safety on the occasion of Halifax aircraft LK803 crashing and burning on the aerodrome on July 19th, 1944, and although there were no survivors, he is to be commended for the way he directed the firefighters and rescue parties until all the bodies were recovered."

Pilot - F/O Stanley John Joplin RCAF (J/24979), aged 20, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/J/20).

Flight Engineer - Sgt Norman John Shand RAFVR (179632), aged 19, of Inverurie. Buried Inverurie Cemetery, Aberdeenshire.

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - WO George Henry Minchin RAAF (421661), aged 27, wife of Leeton, New South Wales, Australia. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/J/17).

Air Gunner - P/O Wilfred Stanley Barnard RCAF (J/92350), aged 20, of Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/J/18).

Air Gunner - P/O Gerald Albion Kent RCAF (C/90305), aged 21, of Amherst, Nova Scotia. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/J/19).

Stan Joplin's crew. Joplin is seated on the far left. Names of exactly who the others are not yet confirmed but they will contain his original crew of Sgt N Shand, WO1 W Minchin, and Sgt W Barnard plus Sgt N Cushman (died 25-7-1944), F/O W Johnson and F/O D Walker. Gerald Kent was not a regular member of this crew.

This photograph was taken at Tholthorpe by groundcrew member Bert Parker and may show Halifax LK803, the aircraft shown does not appear to have crashed with much forward speed and clearly a fire after crash has destroyed the aircraft. LK803 appears to have struck the ground in a similar way.

Stanley Joplin was born on 20th December 1923 at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and was the son of Albert Edward and Emily Eliza (nee Norford) Joplin. His father was born in India and had married his English born mother in London before they emigrated to Canada. As a young man Stanley served in the Air Cadet force in Vancouver. He left school in 1939 and worked as what was described as being a carrier and sub-manager for the Vancouver Daily Province newspaper. In December 1941 he began studying at the Dominion Provincial youth training School for prospective aircrew. He enlisted for RCAF service in Vancouver on 19th February 1942 and after training in Canada he was awarded his pilot's flying badge and also a commission on 2nd April 1943. He was posted to the UK the following month and would then train at 11 (P)AFU, 82 OTU and 1659 HCU before posting to 420 Squadron on 15th March 1944. He was twenty four operational flights into his tour when the accident occurred. His brother Albert Frederick Joplin served in the RCAF overseas during WW2 before returning home.

Wilfred Barnard was born on 17th March 1923 at Nokomis, Saskatchewan, Canada and was the son of Joseph and Sarah (nee Franklin) Barnard. The family later moved to Vernon, British Columbia. He left school in 1937 and worked on a farm (possibly his family farm) and then as a machine operator. He enlisted for RCAF service on 25th November 1942 in Vancouver and after training in Canada he was awarded his air gunner's flying badge on 15th October 1943. On arrival in the UK he trained at 1664 HCU before posting to 424 Squadron on 12th January 1944. He was later posted to 420 Squadron on 19th May 1944. He received a backdated commission after his death, dated to 18th July 1944. I thank Mr Michael Argent for contacting me regarding his cousin and this accident.

Gerald Kent was born on 3rd June 1923 at Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada and was the son of Ira Blair and Jean (nee Allen) Kent. The family moved to Amherst, Nova Scotia when he was three years old. He left school in 1941 but returned to undertake a sheet metal working course. He briefly worked on board a couple of ships at Halifax, Nova Scotia before starting work for the Canadian Car and Foundary company (who made Hawker Hurricane aircraft as one of their products). He enlisted for RCAF service on 5th May 1942 for ground duties at Moncton. He arrived in the UK in April 1943 but then appears to have remustered as aircrew. He then trained at 2 AGS, 23 OTU and 1664 HCU before posting to 420 Squadron on 31st December 1943 but then went to train at 1666 HCU in February before returning to 420 Squadron on 5th March 1944. He received a backdated commission after his death, dated to 18th July 1944. He appears to have flown with a different crew on operational flights. I thank his niece for contacting me in March 2018.