On 2nd September 1944 the crew of this 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit took off from Blyton airfield to undertake an air test of the aircraft. Not long after taking off the pilot reported that the aileron control had been lost and soon after the port outer engine overheated. The failing engine was not or could not be feathered so eventually the windmilling propeller caused the engine to catch fire. At 10.45hrs the aircraft flew through trees near Swanland and crashed while it was being force-landed. Sadly two airmen died as a result of the crash, the first named at Hull Royal Infirmary. A memorial within Christ Church, Swanland was dedicated in 2019.
Pilot - F/O Jack Esdale RAFVR (160680), aged 24. Buried Tottenham Cemetery, Middlesex.
Pilot - F/Lt Leslie Cumberworth RAFVR (120434), aged 22. Buried Queensgate Cemetery, Beverley, Yorkshire (73/2).
? - F/Sgt E A Brown. Injured.
Leslie Cumberworth and his grave in Beverley. He had married earlier in 1944 in Surrey.