On 9th February 1945 the pilot of this aircraft took off from Dalton airfield at 15.20hrs to undertake a flying test in preparation for a night flight. Twenty minutes later the aircraft was in the process of making an approach to land back at Dalton, the wheels were down and was nearing a landing in a gusty cross-wind. Just before reaching the airfield boundary the aircraft was seen to make a steep turn which then became tighter, the aircraft lost all of it's flying speed and stalled at between 200 and 300 feet off the ground. There was no height available for the pilot to attempt to recover from the stall and the aircraft dived into the ground near Eldmire Hill at 15.43hrs. The pilot was sadly killed as a result of this accident. The aircraft was part of 1695 Flight, based at Dalton, which was set up to undertake the fighter part of the Bomber Command fighter affiliation training duties. This was the unit's only fatal flying accident.
Pilot - F/Lt Arthur Benson Summers RCAF (J/15785), aged 24, of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada. Buried Chester Blacon Cemetery (A/708).
Arthur Summers was born on 17th March 1920 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was the son of Benson Smith and Isabella Masson (nee Fowler) Summers. His parents had married in Newcastle upon Tyne, England in 1919 and then emigrated to Ontario. The family moved to Yorkton, Saskatchewan when Arthur was six months old. After attending school he began an aviation course at the Brisbane Aviation Co.Ltd. in Vancouver and still studying there when he enlisted for RCAF service on 4th June 1940 in Regina. After training he was awarded his Pilot's Wings on 12th December 1940. His operational service is a long one and there is probably much more to learn about the finer aspects of it. He was posted to the UK in January 1941 and following training at 57 OTU was posted to 611 Squadron on 6th May 1941 (Spitfires). He then received postings to 145 Squadron on 25th July 1941 (Spitfires), 616 Squadron on 30th September 1941 (Spitfires), and then out to India to join 146 Squadron on 3rd March 1942 (Audax, Mohawks and later Hurricanes). On 28th April 1942 he was seriously injured in the crash of Audax K7356 but recovered and returned to 146 Squadron. He received a commission on 21st July 1942. 146 Squadron were involved in the Burma Front during 1943 and 1944 and he remained with 146 Squadron until June 1944 when he was deemed to have completed a tour of operations and was posted back to the UK in August 1944. He was posted to 1695 Flight on 13th October 1944.
He married Elsie May Garston in Chester in October 1944 and I assume that they had met well before this, probably when he was serving in the UK in 1941. Normally RCAF casualties in Yorkshire would have been buried at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery but it appears his wife, not the RCAF/RAF, arranged the funeral at Chester. She was living in Sowerby, Thirsk at the time of his death but was from Chester.