Halifax LW235 at Nunnington.
Halifax LW235 during its days with 78 Squadron.
In the early hours of 20th October 1944 the crew of this 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit Halifax were returning to Wombleton airfield following a night bombing exercise which had lasted just short of two hours. They had taken off at 01.12hrs with the weather over their base on their return being poor but not unreasonable. The pilot was having trouble in seeing the runway lighting and he made three attempts at landing but had to overshoot all three because of the poor visibility. Following the third overshoot the aircraft failed to gain enough height to avoid a crash as they flew south. Soon afterwards the aircraft clipped the roof of a farm building and then crashed at Nunnington at 02.55hrs. The aircraft smashed through trees on impact which broke the aircraft into large sections, some sections of which caught fire. Five of the crew sustained injuries while two others lost their lives as a result of the crash. It was later found that the crew had not been at their correct stations prior to the crash and that the undercarriage was still in the down position when the aircraft crashed.
A number of Wombleton's groundcrew were soon on the scene, one of which was Chief Technician, Sgt Charles Halliwell (525179). He was later awarded the British Empire Medal for gallantry at this aircraft crash; despite the aircraft being on fire he dragged all three of the remaining airmen out of the wreckage though sadly only one of these would survive. In correspondance with Mr John Stanton whose father served as ground crew at Wombleton when this incident occurred, he informs me that a number of personnel were billeted with families in Nunnington village. It could be that the speed the rescuers were on the scene was mainly due to those billeted in the village being so close to the crash site. Sgt Halliwell's family have asked me to point out that.. "After a posting to Southern Rhodesia and a long life in the RAF, Charles Halliwell retired in 1971. He moved to Slingsby and then to York where he died on 14th October 1999. His ashes are scattered on his beloved Moors. He was a skilled aircraft artist and some of his paintings can be seen at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington near York." I would like to thank various members of his family for their contact and for correcting any previous incorrect information detailed on this webpage and elsewhere on the internet.
Flight Engineer - Sgt Herbert Vance RAFVR (1799345), aged 21, of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Buried Belfast City Cemetery.
Rear Gunner - Sgt John Wakefield RCAF (R/273518), aged 18, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Pilot - F/O John Heath MacLean RCAF (J/36643), of South Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Seriously injured.
Navigator - F/O Leslie Earl Sherwood RCAF (J/38777). Injured.
Bomb Aimer - F/O E L Somerville RCAF (J/38674). Injured. (Possibly Earl Lawrence Somerville)
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Gordon Nelson Pollock RCAF (R/147311). Injured.
Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt Frank Woods Thomas RCAF (R/267550), of St.John, New Brunswick, Canada. Seriously injured.
John Wakefield and his gravestone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. John was born on 30th December 1925 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was the son of Percival Richard and Elsie Ada (nee Payne) Wakefield. His parents had both been born in England but had both emigrated to Canada prior to getting married in Toronto in 1923. John left high school in 1942 and then worked for the Ideal Bread Company of Toronto. He enlisted for RCAF service on 26th August 1943 in Toronto and received air gunnery training, being awarded his air gunners' flying badge on 10th March 1944. He was posted to the UK soon after and would train at 22 OTU before posting to 1666 HCU on 20th September 1944.
The photograph of Herbert Vance appeared in a Belfast Newspaper. I wish to thank Mr Philip Batt for looking his death up and copying me the relevant articles, without which Sgt Vance's personal details would not be known. He enlisted in August 1943 and at the time of his death his father Robert Vance lived at 22 Springfield Parade, Belfast. His mother Beatrice had died in 1935. His funeral was held on Friday 27th October 1944, in attendance were members of his family including his father and four brothers. There was a floral tribute from RAF Station Wombleton.
Frank Woods Thomas was probably born on 22nd March 1925 and died on 4th April 2012 in Toronto.
Leslie Sherwood was born in 1914, married in 1941 and died in Winnipeg on 4th November 1994. His wife died in May 2021 at the age of 102.
This photograph shows the scene of the crash of Halifax LW235 at Nunnington.
To confirm the location small fragments of the aircraft were found in October 2006 following a field walk by historians Ken Reast, Albert Pritchard and Eric Barton after seeking land owner consent. The area of the crash is shown in the photograph above and is looking in the direction of Wombleton.
This crew were posted in to 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit on 20th September 1944 from 22 Operational Training Unit. John MacLean had a total of 194 hours flying time prior to the crash, however only seven hours solo were on the Halifax type and with only three of these hours were at night.
