Halifax LW205 at Linton on Ouse airfield.
During the afternoon of 16th November 1944 this 426 Squadron aircraft was to be flown on an operational flight to bomb a target at Julich and took off from Linton on Ouse airfield at 13.00hrs. As the aircraft picked up speed it ran over a bumpy part of the runway which caused the aircraft to bounce two feet into the air, the starboard wing then dropped slightly causing the starboard undercarriage to touch the runway again. While the pilot remained in control and continued to become properly airborne the undercarriage mechanism had been damaged.
Twenty five minutes later and while circling after taking off to climb and to allow other squadron aircraft to get into the air this aircraft suffered hydraulic failure that effected the flaps and also the undercarriage. The crew were ordered out to sea to jettison the bomb load which was done at 13.53hrs. The crew must then have generally used up some fuel because it took until 16.25hrs for the crew to then land back at Linton on Ouse but the crew could not get the starboard undercarriage leg to lock down. The pilot did most of the landing with the weight on the port leg but as it slowed the starboard leg was forced to bare weight and it collapsed, the aircraft then ground looped and came to rest towards the northern end of the airfield on runway 36.
As a footnote, I have no idea why this aircraft was not diverted to land at the emergency landing strip at Carnaby.
Pilot - P/O Arthur William Hutchins RCAF (J/89308).
Navigator - WO1 F J Willoughby RCAF (R/156225).
Air Bomber - Sgt F W Earle RCAF (R/177245).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt R J MacGarva RCAF (R/191178). (Possibly Robert J MacGarva).
Flight Engineer - Sgt Cecil John Freeman RAFVR (1586034).
Air Gunner - F/Sgt L W Armstrong RCAF (R/250654).
Air Gunner - F/Sgt Allan Bernard Carlson RCAF (R/255545).