Lancaster PB841 near Skipton on Swale airfield.
There are still a few unknowns with this incident. On 17th December 1944 this 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit aircraft was being flown on a transit flight away from Wombleton airfield to an unknown airfield. Why it is was being flown away from Wombleton is also not known as it was a new aircraft. Ten minutes into the flight the pilot began testing the feathering system on the engines. He feathered the starboard outer engine and also the port outer engine successfully but once these engines were not supplying power the starboard inner engine then began to loose power. The pilot was unable to unfeather either of the outer engines and with only one engine working properly the aircraft would not maintain height. At 11.48hrs a belly landing was made in a field a few hundred metres north of Skipton on Swale airfield and was badly damaged. It's unlikely it was heading to Skipton on Swale or Dishforth airfield as the units there were still flying Halifaxes and did not begin to convert to Lancasters for some weeks. Purely speculation but was it heading towards Yeadon as Avro could modify it ?
Lancaster PB841 was built by A.V.Roe and Co Ltd at Woodford and was received by 32 MU on 30th November 1944. It was taken on charge by 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit at Wombleton on 6th December 1944 though their records state that it been the very first Lancaster that was flown by them four days earlier. The mishap on 17th December 1944 is not listed in their records. It had almost certainly just left their care. As a result of the accident on 17th December 1944 Cat.E/FA damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge on 3rd January 1945.
Pilot - "F/O S J Peirce RAFVR (165973)."
One other on board - Name unknown.
The AM Form 1180 gives the pilot's service number as 165973 and appears to state the pilot's name as "F/O S J Peirce" though may not be correct. There was no-one in the RAF called "S.J.Peirce" or any officer with that service number that looks vaguely like Peirce spelling of a name. The AM Form 19180 states that his flying experience amassed over 1000 hours flying solo but just three hours solo on Lancasters and none at night. Clearly he had flown a lot prior to this incident but where? My guess he was seconded to the an RAF MU or even the ATA to ferry aircraft though have nothing to back up this.