Lancaster KB803 near Yafforth.

Prior to this incident the weather had cleared a little from the previous day where no flying was done from Croft airfield. The 26th January 1945 began cloudy with snow showers in the morning, visibility was poor becoming moderate to good later in the day. Once the weather improved some flying practice was undertaken by a 431 Squadron crew. During the late afternoon the crew of this Lancaster managed to begin a training flight that involved practicing shutting down engines and feathering propellers. During the exercise something went wrong and most of the aircraft's engines failed. Loosing height the pilot made a forced landing at 16.36hrs around half a mile south Yafforth in a snow covered field. The aircraft was badly damaged but the crew of eight escaped serious injury.

Only the pilot's name is confirmed. The 431 Squadron ORB scribe was lazy in early 1945 and did not list all crew names with their pilot. The crew I list are the last crew who he flew operationally when the scribe bothered to list it in full.

Pilot - F/O John Frederick Morton RCAF (J/29163).

Maybe some of the following...

Navigator - F/O A W Monahan RCAF (J/37181?).

Bomb Aimer - P/O J N Fogarty RCAF (J/90231).

Wireles Operator / Air Gunner - P/O L F Heppenstall RCAF (J/92261)

Air Gunner - Sgt L D Bea RCAF (R/256051 R/256061).

Air Gunner - Sgt W F Atherley RCAF (R/250686).

Flight Engineer - P/O Albert Frederick James Gower RAFVR (185490).

Plus one other. Name unknown.