During the afternoon of 23rd April 1944 the crew of this 1659 Heavy Conversion Unit were undertaking a basic circuit and landing training flight. The exercise would involved making multiple short flights around the circuit of Topcliffe airfield, this would give the crew practice at taking off, landing and the general procedures of flying circuits of the airfield and communicating with flying control. Soon after taking off for one of the short flights people on the airfield saw that the port outer engine of the aircraft emmited a lot of white smoke. The aircraft was seen to climb to around 500 feet and begin a turn to port, unfortunately the turn became a steep banked turn and it then dived into ground at 14.38hrs near what was then called Home Farm (now "The Grange"), Baldersby St.James. Sadly all on board were killed. The faulty engine was salvaged and stripped to find the cause of the fire, an internal component failure was found to be the cause.

Pilot - P/O Horace Montague Richard Herbert RCAF (J/858150), aged 27. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/A/20).

Flight Engineer - Sgt Thomas Ellams RAF(AAF) (858945), aged 37. Buried Dukinfield Cemetery, Cheshire.

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Athol Lorne Lunan RCAF (R/144320), aged 23, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/A/19).

Rear Gunner - Sgt Richard Fabian Dawson RCAF (R/202351), aged 20, of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/A/17).

Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt Joseph Theodore McGovern RCAF (R/210726), aged 20. Of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (B/A/18).

Horace Herbert was born on 6th September 1916 at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada and was the son of George Henry and Mary (nee McDowell) Herbert. The family moved to the remote High Tor, Saskatchewan when he was young and he then worked on the family farm as a young man. His RCAF service differs from many other Canadian pilots I have looked at the service of, he enlisted for RCAF service 3rd June 1937 in Toronto. He would marry Oma Fairfax-Brown in September 1941 in Hamilton, Ontario while serving in Onatrion. He served within the Motor Transport section for five years rising to be in charge of his section at No.4 Bombing and Gunnery School at Fingal, Ontario by mid-1942. He remustered for aircrew duties on 29th June 1942 and after training in Canada was awarded his pilot's wings on 28th May 1943. On arrival in the UK he trained at 18 (P)AFU and 23 OTU before posting to 1659 HCU on 2nd April 1944. He had received a commission on 15th February 1944. At the time of his death he had logged just 1.30hrs solo flying time on Halifaxes. He is listed in the English death register by his middle name Richard.

Athol Lunan was born on 16th May 1920 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was the son of James Albert and Ada May (nee Ough) Lunan. He was still at college when he enlisted for RCAF service on 26th November 1941 in Toronto. After training in Canada he was awarded his wireless operator's flying badge on 12th July 1943 followed by the air gunnery part of the training the following month. In the UK he trained at 6 (O)AFU and 23 OTU before posting to 1659 HCU on 2nd April 1944. His brother Maxwell Dorrien Lunan served as a doctor in the RCAF during WW2.

Richard Dawson was born on 15th April 1924 at Montreal, Quebec, Canada and was the son of Fabian and Mary Alice (nee Fyfe) Dawson. He was the eldest of ten siblings. As a young man he left college in 1941 and worked as a cargo clerk for the RAF / Canadian Ferry Command, he was based Dorval, Quebec. His role here as one of the civilian workers deserves far more credit and reseach. He enlisted for RCAF service on 13th November 1942 in Montreal and after training was awarded his air gunners' flying badge on 15th October 1943. On arrival in the UK he trained at 23 OTU and was posted to 1659 HCU probably on 2nd April 1944.

Joseph McGovern was born Joseph McGauvran on 2nd January 1924 at Cudworth, Saskatchewan, Canada and was the son of Walter Lee and Mary Luce (nee McInnes) McGauvran. The family lived in Saskatchewan for the first seventeen years of his life before moving to Vancouver, British Columbia. After leaving school Joseph worked in a sawmill. He enlisted for RCAF service on 17th December 1942 in Vancouver. After basic training he was awarded his air gunners' flying badge on 15th October 1943. On arrival in the UK he too trained at 23 OTU before posting to 1659 HCU with other members of his crew on 2nd April 1944.

Searching the English birth and marriage indexes, Thomas Ellams married Edith Sumner in 1930 in the Ashton uner Lyne area and they had three children.

Air historians Ken Reast, Albert Pritchard and Eric Barton located small pieces of wreckage at the crash site in March 1998 with permission from the land owner, confirming the location. The item shown above was one item Eric Barton retained from the search and was passed to me in 2022 to re-home.