During the early hours of 17th June 1944 the crew of this 10 Squadron were to undertake an operational flight to bomb a V-1 flying bomb launch site at Domleger in Northern France and took off from Melbourne at 00.20hrs. While climbing and circling the general area of base to await all the other squadron aircraft taking off and gaining height the starboard inner engine caught fire. Despite the crew attempting to shut down the engine and feather the propeller and also the Graviner fire extinguisher system being used the fire would not go out or the propeller feather. Realising there was a problem the crew initially attempted to fly out to sea to drop their bomb load before landing but because the propeller would not feather or the fire go out the fire spread and the aircraft lost height. At 00.50hrs the aircraft crashed into a field near Cockoo Park Farm, north of Rawcliffe on Aire. Whether the crew at the front of the aircraft survived the initial impact is not known. The rear gunner had heard the order to brace for impact and survived with very little injury. Realising that the full bomb load was on board and that the fire was still burning he released himself from his turret and appreciating that the bomb load was in danger he ran from the crash site but as he crossed a field he fell into a deep field drain. At the moment he fell into the drain the bomb load exploded. Unfortunately the nature of the post-crash explosion was so severe that it resulted in the bodies of two members of this crew to never be identified, while one of the bodies has a grave at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery (as an unknown) they are both commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. A number of unexploded bombs that were present at the crash site caused an ajoining railway line to be closed for between two and three days while they were blown-up.
Pilot - P/O Norman Colin Campbell Leitch RAAF (427001), aged 28, wife of Innaloo, Western Australia. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/G/3).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Ronald Aubrey Crawford RAFVR (929824), aged 23, of Swansea. Commemorated Runnymede Memorial.
Navigator - Sgt Ronald Francis Pearce RAFVR (1339551), aged 23, of Plymouth. Buried Ford Park Cemetery, Plymouth, Devon.
Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt William John McCarrol RAFVR (1483480), aged 21, of Belfast. Commemorated Runnymede Memorial.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Clarence Ralph Benjamin Lewington RAFVR (1587162), aged 20, of Melksham. Buried Melksham Churchyard, Wiltshire.
Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt Cyril Albert Reginald Dummer RAFVR (1866298), aged 19, of Kenton, Middlesex. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/G/4).
Rear Gunner - F/Sgt Mervyn John Coleman RAAF (436070). Minor injuries.
The crew of Halifax LV825 at the time it crashed (back row L-R) Crawford, Lewington, Dummer and Coleman. (front row L-R) Pearce, Leitch and McCarrol.
Norman Leitch was born on 13th March 1916 at Harvey, Western Australia and was the son of Colin Campbell and Mary Leitch. As a young man he worked as a motor mechanic and was married with two young children, the youngest born after he had left Australia for service overseas. He enlisted for RAAF service in Perth on 26th April 1942 and after training was awarded his Pilot's wings on 5th March 1943. Arriving in the UK in Summer 1943 he would train at 11 (P)AFU, 21 (P)AFU, 21 OTU, 311 FTU and 1663 HCU. He received a commission on 6th March 1944 and was posted to 10 Squadron on 4th June 1944. Just after midnight on 9th June 1944 he was flying Halifax LW371 and attempting a landing at Melbourne but misjudged his height, the landing was so heavy that it forced the main starboard undercarriage leg through the starboard wing resulting in the aircraft being written off.
Cyril Dummer with the original grave marker and the modern gravestone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. I thank his brother Harold for contacting me in the early days of this website and for the information he was able to provide.
Graves of Pearce and Lewington. I credit John Belcher for these images. His uncle was Sgt Lewington.
A gravestone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery that almost certain contains the body of either Ronald Crawford and William McCarrol (or possibly collected remains that could not be identified). Their names on the Runnymede Memorial are shown below and I credit John Belcher for these two photographs.
Mervyn Coleman was born on 4th June 1924 at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and was the son John Graham and The family later moved to Shenton Park, Perth and as a young man he worked as a customs clerk. He was first an air cadet, enrolling in February 1942 in Perth. He enlisted for RAAF service on 7th November 1942 in Perth and after training in Australia he was awarded his air gunner's flying badge on 24th June 1943. he left Australia in August 1943. On arrival in the UK he trained at 21 OTU, 311 FTU and 1663 HCU before posting to 10 Squadron on 4th June 1944. After the crash near Rawcliffe later in June 1944 he was initially admitted to Burn airfield sick quarters and then presumably back to Melbourne sick quarters for ten days before being released. Having recovered he was posted to 466 Squadron on 29th July 1944 and then to 462 Squadron on 20th August 1944. He finished operational flying by the end of 1944. He was granted a commission on 28th April 1945 rising to F/O six months later but was then de-mobbed on 11th December 1945. He died in the 1970s.
In September 1998 air historians Albert Pritchard, Ken Reast and Eric Barton field-walked the crash site in with permission from the landowner and located surface wreckage of the aircraft to confirm the location and therefore technically the last resting place of one member of this crew. The two items shown here were retained by Eric Barton following his visit, the photograph above shows a plate attached to the airframe and below is part of the aircraft's D.F. loop.
