During the night of 20th / 21st February 1944 the crew of this 427 Squadron aircraft were to undertake an operational flight to bomb Stuttgart and they took off from Leeming airfield just before midnight on 20th February. The weather around the Leeming area was poor with drizzle and low cloud present on what was reported as being a very dark night. Nine minutes later as the aircraft was flying in the airfield circuit of Leeming to gain height and to await all the other 427 Squadron aircraft getting airborne it crashed near Yafforth and exploded. Because the bomb load then exploded the aircraft was clearly totally destroyed and all on board were killed. An investigation attempted to find a cause for the crash but because everything was destroyed there was nothing to suggest what caused a probable loss of control. Some form of technical trouble was believed to have been a cause but as there was no actual evidence for this the cause was left as unknown.
The location for the crash was in a field between what was then Crow Tree Farm and Castle Hills Farm but is now land occupied by Romanby Golf and Country Club. With the bomb load exploding it created a large hole that, now filled with water, forms a lake on the fifth hole of the golf course. A police report gives a slightly differing (and probably incorrect) location north of Crow Tree Farm while it also gives a map reference that disagrees and is north-west of the same farm. The golf and country club are doing a fantastic job in remembering this incident. The location given in a No.6 Group flying control logbook was initially reported to have been near Jecklow Grange.
Pilot - F/O Ross K. Laut RCAF (J/22723), aged 22, of Crossfield, Alberta, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (F/A/19).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Edward John Rowe RAFVR (1271023), aged 21, of East Grinstead. Buried East Grinstead (Mount Noddy) Cemetery, Sussex.
Navigator - F/O William Norman Hegy RCAF (J/20660), aged 23, of Airdrie, Alberta, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (F/A/17).
Bomb Aimer - P/O Roy William Moody RCAF (J/87165), aged 20, of Point St.Charles, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (F/A/18).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt George Henry Jones RAFVR (1420376), aged 20, of? Buried Newport (St.Woolos) Cemetery, Monmouthshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Alfred Frederick Fitton RAFVR (2209093), aged 19, of Winsford. Buried Over Churchyard, Cheshire.
Air Gunner - Sgt Frank Albert Charles Harris RAF (545284), aged 23, of West Kington. Buried West Kington Churchyard, Wiltshire.
Ross Laut was born on 26th July 1921 at Greenfield, Alberta, Canada. He was still at high school when he enlisted for RCAF service on 24th August 1940 in Calgary for aircrew duties. After training in Canada he was awarded his air gunner's flying badge on 27th October 1940. He then served in both 6 Squadron RCAF and 120 Squadron RCAF in Canada before remustering as a pilot in March 1942. After training was awarded his pilot's flying badge and also a commission on 22nd January 1943. He left for service in the UK in March 1943 and once here trained at 11 (P)AFU, 19 OTU and 1664 HCU before posting to 419 Squadron on 23rd November 1943. The date he was posted to 427 Squadron is not given in his service file but if he followed other members of this crew then it was the following day. His brother W/Co Albin Laut RCAF (C/681) was killed on 2nd October 1943 in a Ventura crash at Sydney, Nova Scotia. I have so far been unable to discover what Ross Laut's middle name was, in every service file he simply gave the initial "K".
William Hegy was born on 18th April 1920 at Calgary, Alberta, Canada and was the son of Edward Clarence and Elizabeth (nee Scolland) Hegy. As a young man he studied air engineering at an aviation college as well as working part time as a mechanic and at his father's garage. He enlisted for RCAF service on 29th May 1940 in Calgary for ground crew duties and he served as an aero engine machanic with No.4 Squadron RCAF in Canada. He then remustered as aircrew in Summer 1942 and trained as a navigator, being awarded his air navigator's flying badge and also a commission on 6th November 1942. On arrival in the UK he trained 10 (O)AFU, 19 OTU and 1664 HCU before posting to 419 Squadron on 23rd November 1943 and then to 427 Squadron the following day.
Roy Moody was born on 24th February 1923 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and was the son of Cecil William and Daisy (nee Denham) Moody. His parents were both born in England and had married in Surrey in 1921 before emigrating to Canada. As a young man Roy worked as a sales clerk for Drummond McCall in Montreal. Just before enlisting he studied at the W.E.T.P. academy, graduating in May 1942. He enlisted for RCAF service on 25th May 1942 in Montreal for aircrew duties and then trained as a bomb aimer in Canada, with his flying badge being awarded on 5th February 1943. In the UK trained at 4 AOS, 19 OTU and 1664 HCU before the posting with others of this crew to 419 Squadron on 23rd November 1943. Posting to 427 Squadron then happened on the following day.
Frank Harris' grave at West Kington. My thanks to John Belcher for this photograph.
The crew involved (left to right) Laut, Hegy, Moody, Jones, Harris, Fitton and Rowe.
A memorial to this crew was dedicated near the crash site and within the grounds of Romanby Golf and Country Club in March 2010. It was through the efforts of club member Mr John Whitfield that the memorial came about.
A painting with associated information about the incident is also housed in the golf club house (photograph credit to Eric Barton).
The believed crash location is this water feature on the golf course.