Halifax LW139 near Exelby, Leeming.
On 23rd February 1945 the crew of this 429 Squadron aircraft were undertaking a training flight and took off from Leeming airfield at 15.39hrs. During the flight the aircraft suffered a failure of one of the port outer engine. At 17.35hrs the aircraft was given permission to land at Leeming but on their final approach the second port engine failed, the aircraft swing off the line of the runway and towards a hut on the airfield so they overshot the first landing and appeared to have been trying to turn the aircraft to fly a circuit of the airfield to go in for another landing. While making the climbing turn to port the port wing dropped and the turn became an ever increasing banked turn, control was then lost and it sank into the ground, crashing into a field between the Exelby and Londonderry at 17.39hrs. Upon impact the aircraft caught fire and while th pilot was killed in the crash, the other six members of the crew were pulled out of the burning wreckage. Sadly the mid upper gunner must have been deemed too seriously injured to be transferred to hospital and he died of his injuries later that evening in Leeming's Station Sick Quarters at 23.20hrs. The other five injured airmen were then transferred to the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton where sadly the navigator and bomb aimer died of their injuries later that night.
The aircraft had been used operationally on the night of 21st / 22nd February 1945 by F/O Richard McDiarmid Scott RCAF (J/41118) and he was to have been called as a witness when the cause of this accident was investigated, probably to see if he could shed any light on whether there had been any trouble with the aircraft eighteen hours earlier. Sadly he was to be killed in the crash of Halifax RG347 at Leeming on 27th February 1945 before the Court of Inquiry was held.
Pilot – F/Lt Peter Franklin Robb RCAF (J/5118), aged 23, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (G/G/7).
Navigator – F/Lt Donald Scott MacNabb RCAF (J/13273), aged 23, of Milton, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (G/G/8). Died of injuries on 24th February 1945.
Bomb Aimer – F/O Frederick Einar Casher RCAF (J/37805), aged 23, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (G/G/10). Died of injuries on 24th February 1945.
Mid Upper Gunner – F/Sgt Herbert Henry Hockley RCAF (R/104233), aged 23, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (G/G/9). Died of injuries on 23rd February 1945.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner – F/O D M McMurchy RCAF (J/43083). Seriously injured.
Flight Engineer – Sgt Albert Edmond Lewthwaite RAF (1880688). Slightly injured.
Rear Gunner – F/Sgt Gerald Soper Hope RCAF (R/259756). Seriously injured.
The photograph above I believe shows all members of the crew involved in the accident to Halifax LW139. The photograph below was found in Donald MacNabb's service file and shows five members of the crew. Only because I know the building and village where this photograph was taken, it was taken while they were training at 1666 HCU at Wombleton and the photograph was taken outside the Star Inn at nearby Harome. They were posted from 1666 HCU to 429 Squadron on 21st November 1944.
Herbert Hockley was born on 8th July 1922 in Halifax, Nova Scotia and when he enlisted for RCAF service in July 1941 in Halifax he was living in the
Bedford area of Halifax working as a motor mechanic. He married Mary Matilda Sawler in March 1941 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia who had given birth to a baby son in January 1942 but sadly his first wife Mary died not long after. Because of his civilian experience with motor vehicles the RCAF posted him to serve as a motor transport mechanic in Canada but he later re-mustered as an air gunner in September 1943 and undertook basic air gunnery training in Canada. He remarried in March 1944 in Woodside, Nova Scotia just before being posted overseas. He arrived in the UK on 10th May 1944 and crewed-up and trained at 22 OTU at Wellesbourne Mountford, beginning 13th June 1944 and 1666 HCU at Wombleton, beginning 13th September 1944 before this whole crew were posted to 429 Squadron on 21st November 1944. His mother Kate Louis Ashby lived in St.Helens, Isle of Wight when he enlisted and in 1945. His father Charles William Hockley had emigrated to Canada in 1910 but enlisted for WW1 Canadian Infantry service in 1914 and joined the 25th Battalion Canadian Infantry (Nova Scotia Regiment) so was posted back to the UK and served in France.
Frederick Casher was born on 17th June 1922 at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and was the son of Anthony Ernest and Sarah Dorothy (nee Einarson) Casher. His mother was born in Iceland but had emigrated to Canada. After leaving school he began working as a machine operator for the American Can Company in Vancouver and also studied draughtmanship at night school. He enlisted for RCAF service on 3rd Septembr 1942 in Vancouver and after training was awarded his Air Bomber's flying badge and also a commission on 29th October 1943. On arrival in the UK in late 1943 he appears to have served at/for ACOS (which if correct means Assistant Chief of Staff). In 1944 he then began the usual Bomber Command training program for a bomb aimer; training at 3 (O)AFU, 22 OTU and 1666 HCU before posting to 429 Squadron on 21st November 1944.
Donald MacNabb was born on 23rd August 1921 at Trafalgar Township, Ontario, Canada and was the son of Archibald Linford and Anna (nee Scott) MacNabb. He was working as a school teacher when he enlisted for RCAF service in September 1941 and after training in Canada was awarded his Air Observer's flying badge on 4th August 1942 and also a commission on the same date. During the latter months of 1942 he was serving at Seattle, USA but between late 1942 and 1944 there is a gap in his service history. He died of his injuries in the Friarage Hospital at Northallerton at around noon the following day.
Peter Robb was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 27th December 1921 and was the son of Arthur Craig and Alice Rose (nee Smith) Robb. He worked as a messenger for the Canadian Bank of Commerce in the late 1930s before returning to high school and was probably still studying at school when he enlisted for RCAF service in Toronto on 20th July 1940. After training in Canada he was awarded his Pilot's Wings and also a commisson on 11th April 1941. He then remained in Canada and served in the RCAF Coastal Command with No.8 Bombing and Reconnaissance Squadron RCAF in Canada and also Alaska flying anti-submarine duties. He served at No.8 Squadron RCAF until September 1943 flying what was probably numerous operational flights with them. Six months later he was posted overseas and arrived in the UK around Easter 1944. Over the coming months trained at 15 (P)AFU, 1532 BAT Flight, 22 OTU and 1666 HCU. He was posted to 429 Squadron on 21st November 1944.
