Halifax MZ291 at Leeming airfield.
On the night of 28th December 1944 this 427 Squadron aircraft was used to fly an operational flight to bomb Opladen and at 03.45hrs the crew attempted to take off from Leeming airfield. While picking up speed a main tyre burst causing the aircraft to swing off the runway. The pilot lost control, the aircraft ran off the airfield and before it could be stopped it crashed into an empty house on the airfield boundary. A fire broke out. The crew escaped and after the fire crew attended and made sure all were accounted for the general area was cleared of all personnel. Leeming Bar village was also evacuated and the roads around the area were blocked. Around half an hours after the crash the first bomb exploded and a second around half an hour later. The uneven runway surface was blamed for the tyre bursting in the first instance.
Pilot - F/O J I Bell RCAF (J/26232).
Navigator - F/O A W Cairns RCAF (J/38763).
Air Bomber - F/O Valdemar Julian Pedersen Gerald RCAF (J/26347).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt H N Salmon RCAF (R/218189).
Flight Engineer - F/Sgt T Holden RAFVR (1500630).
Air Gunner - F/O H L McInnes RCAF (J/41855).
Air Gunner - F/O D G Hair RCAF (C/2117).
Bell injured in the crash of 1659 H.C.U. LL142 near Skipton on Swale airfield on 18th July 1944. On 6th January 1945 the crew named above were flying Halifax LM130 on Ops when another Halifax attacked them. F/O Gerald was struck in the face by a .303 bullet which blew off his nose. On their return to England the pilot landed at Woodbridge and F/O Gerald was taken to hospital, with treatment at East Grinstead to reconstruct his nose.