On the night of 1st / 2nd January 1945 the crew of this 10 Squadron aircraft took off from Melbourne airfield at around 16.30hrs to undertake an operational flight to bomb Dortmund with the main target being a coking plant. Soon after taking off and while the aircraft was still flying in the circuit of Melbourne to gain height prior to the main bomber stream heading away the starboard outer engine failed and caught fire. The crew operated the fire extinguisher system and this put the fire out but with the problem being so soon after taking off a flight to Germany with three engines was out of the question, they headed towards the North Sea where they jettisoned the bomb load and turned back for base. On their approach to Melbourne the aircraft came in for the landing too high so the pilot attempted to overshoot but the starboard inner engine appears to have then failed either at that point or as they made the approach. He raised the undercarriage and applying power to the good engines but because of the dead engines on the starboard side the aircraft began to turn to that side as more power was being applied to the other side of the aircraft. He was forced to reduce power to make the aircraft fly straight but in doing so the aircraft lost all the height that it had and a crash landing had to be made near Laytham Grange, just off the south west side of the airfield. It may also have clipped trees just prior to crashing in the field and on impact the damaged aircraft caught fire. Sadly two members of the crew died as a result of this incident but it may have been worse had a number of civilians not being close to hand and helped rescue the others.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - F/Sgt Wilfred Arthur Waite RAFVR (1415543), aged 23, of Chelsea, London. Buried Pocklington Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Air Gunner - F/Sgt Henry John Newling RAFVR (1603523), aged 21, of Grantchester. Buried Grantchester Churchyard, Cambridgeshire.
Pilot - F/O Joseph Charles Winter RAFVR (183183). Injured.
Flight Engineer - F/Sgt Ian W King RAF. Injured.
Navigator - P/O Leslie Edward Cunningham RAFVR (184125). Injured.
Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt Arthur C Smith RAF. Injured.
Air Gunner - P/O Donald C Bishop RCAF (J/88883). Injured.
Wilfred Waite's grave in Pocklington cemetery.
Henry Newling's grave in Grantchester and the village war memorial.
The crew involved. I have not yet identified all the survivors' full names or service numbers.
Leslie Cunningham received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 25th August 1944 and rose to F/O six months later. For service with 10 Squadron he was awarded the DFC, Gazetted on 25th May 1945. He died in October 2013.
In March 1986 air historian Graham Sharpe was part of a group that visited the crash site. Those attending included two members of the crew; Arthur Smith (with camera case on right) and Leslie Cunningham (grey hat), the land owner Mr William Bennett (flat cap) who was one of the rescuers on the night the aircraft crashed and members of the Yorkshire Air Museum and York newspapers.
I credit Graham Sharpe with the photographs of the crew and of the site visit in 1986 shown above.