Halifax NA574 near West Haddlesey.

On 26th January 1945 the crew of this 578 Squadron aircraft took off from Burn airfield at 14.30hrs to undertake a combined fighter affiliation and bombing training flight. The weather was good with clear visibility. Half an hour after taking off the aircraft's port outer engine caught fire while flying at around 5,000 feet, the crew tried to feather the propeller on the damaged engine and also activated the fire extinguishers on the engine but the fire would not go out. With the fire having spread to the port wing and having lost height the pilot instructed the crew to bale out and two successfully jumped. A third left the aircraft but by the time he jumped the aircraft was flying at around 1,000 feet and he did not survive the descent. As the third airman jumped the fire burnt through the port wing which folded and broke away and the aircraft then dived into the ground. Sadly everyone else in the aircraft was killed when it crashed into a field a few hundred metres north of the village of West Haddlesey at 15.02hrs. The pilot's parachute pack was later found on the ground well away from the eventual crash site, it was thought that it had fallen through the open escape hatch and that he had stayed with the aircraft to try and force-land it having lost his parachute. Air historians Albert Pritchard, Eric Barton and Ken Reast located small fragments on the surface at the crash site in December 1999 with permission from the landowner, confirming the crash location.

Pilot - F/Lt Norman Garforth RAFVR (138682), aged 23, of Halifax. Buried Halifax (All Saints) Churchyard, Yorkshire.

Flight Engineer - F/Sgt John Vempley Sweet RAFVR (930413), aged 35, of Edinburgh. Buried Warrison Cemetery, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Bomb Aimer - F/Sgt Irvine Lawrence Johns RCAF (R/182696), aged 28, of Henribourg, Saskatchewan, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (G/E/1).

Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt Reginald John Horton RAFVR (1853371), aged 19, of Reading. Buried Reading Cemetery, Berkshire. Baled out but killed.

Rear Gunner - F/Sgt Terence Cornelius House RAFVR (1424247), aged 22, of Barry. Buried Merthyr Dyfan Burial Ground, Barry, Glamorgan.

Navigator - P/O John Bagot Curtiss RAFVR (187025). Baled out. Uninjured.

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Roy Desmond Walker RAFVR (2201640). Baled out. Uninjured.

Norman Garforth was involved in a minor flying accident while training at Marston Moor at 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit on 2nd December 1942 while flying in Halifax R9493. He was later posted to 51 Squadron and received a commission on 23rd December 1943 to the rank of P/O on probation, he was promoted to F/O on 23rd June 1943 and to F/Lt on 23rd December 1944. Following service with 51 Squadron he instructed at 1658 H.C.U. and was later posted to 578 Squadron on an unknown date.

Irving Johns was born on 28th January 1916 at Henribourg, Saskatchewan, Canada and was the son of Eugene Matthew and lena Isabella (nee Pick) Johns. After leaving school in 1935 he worked on his father's farm until 1941 when he took a job as a journalist working as the sports editor for the Herald Printing Company in Prince Albert (Prince Albert Daily Herald), Saskatchewan. He enlisted for RCAF service on 24th August 1942 in Saskatoon and after training in Canada he was awarded his air bomber's flying badge on 14th January 1944. On arrival in the UK he trained at 1 (O)AFU, 14 OTu and 1658 HCU before posting to 578 Squadron on 14th December 1944. During his time in the RCAF he wrote articles for the RCAF magazine "Wings".

John Curtiss rose to the higher ranks of the RAF and his life is well documented. He was born on 6th December 1924. He joined the RAF in 1942 and received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 27th October 1944, rising to F/O six months later. Post-WW2 he remained in the RAF and rose through the ranks to that of Air Marshal. He was the Air Commander of British Forces in the Falklands War and retired the following year having been awarded the KCB and the KBE. Air Marshal Sir John Curtiss died in September 2013.

Roy Walker received a commission on the same date as the events of Halifax NA574 on 26th January 1945 and rose to F/O six months later.

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