On the night of 20th / 21st July 1944 578 Squadron supplied a number of Halifaxes for an operational flight to bomb an oil refinery at Bottrop, Germany. This night would turn out to be horrenous for 578 Squadron in terms of losses, six aircraft failed to return to base with thirtysix airmen being killed with a further six surviving parachute descents over Europe. Halifax LK834 took off from Burn airfield at 23.07hrs and the crew carried out their task, releasing the bomb load as instructed. On their return to Yorkshire low cloud effected visibility, while making for Burn airfield this aircraft collided with Halifax LK834 of 578 Squadron over the Howden area and both aircraft became locked together. At 03.15hrs they crashed on land near Gate House Farm, Balkholme near Howden with the loss of all on board both aircraft. In total fourteen airmen were killed.

Pilot - F/O Maurice Charles Day RAFVR (172955), aged 21. Buried Selby Cemetery, Yorkshire.

Flight Engineer - Sgt John Smith RAFVR (1866461), aged 30, wife of Dagenham, Essex. Buried Sunderland (Bishopwearmouth) Cemetery, Durham.

Navigator - F/Sgt Ambrose Christopher Pugh RAFVR (1396289), aged 33, wife of Palmer's Green, Middlesex. Buried New Southgate Cemetery, Hertfordshire.

Bomb Aimer - Sgt Lewis Randall Barber RAFVR (1620366), aged 21, of Tapton Park, Chesterfield. Buried Brimington Cemetery, Derbyshire.

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Jack Stanley Francis Morrish RAFVR (1603335), aged 21, of Surbiton, Surrey. Buried Barnstaple Cemetery, Devon.

Air Gunner - Sgt Kenneth Nicholson RAFVR (1594726), aged 32, of Barnsley, Buried Owston Churchyard, Yorkshire.

Air Gunner - Sgt Derick Arthur Roland Parham RAFVR (1853953), aged 19, of Headey Down. Buried Grayshott Churchyard, Hampshire.

The graves of three members of this crew. I thank Mrs J.Brumby for contacting me regarding her uncle, Sgt Smith, killed in this accident.

Herbert Day was granted a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 22nd February 1944 and rose to F/O six months later.

A memorial was dedicated close to the crash sites on 15th October 2006 with the local parson Rev.Poskitt officiating. Around New Years Eve in 2007 a local man was metal detecting the field where the aircraft crashed and found a sizeable unexploded bomb which resulted in local roads being closed when the bomb detonated by the Army Bomb Disposal Unit. This bomb was almost certainly an un-released bomb that was still on board one of the aircraft when it crashed.

Well before the memorial was thought about air historians Eric Barton, Ken Reast and Albert Pritchard located surface remains on the site of where the aircraft crashed in March 1997 with permission of the landowner Mr George Wilburn. Mr Wilburn has since died. The photograph shown above is of a small piece of one of the aircraft retained by Eric Barton following his search in 1997, the "57.." number prefix identifies the item as being from a Halifax. The memorial is not on the crash site but overlooks the area.