Lancaster NG345 at Leeming airfield.
At 12.15hrs on 26th March 1945 while this aircraft was being taxied around Leeming airfield prior to a test flight the aircraft started to head off the perimeter track. The pilot was also attempting to adjust the pedals while taxying and his foot slipped off the port rudder pedal, applying movement to that side of the rudder would have brought it back onto the perimeter track. The pilot's foot slipped and became caught in the starboard rudder pedal which resulted in the aircraft hitting a brick shelter on the edge of the airfield. Minor Cat.A/FA damage resulted and it was quickly repaired on site at Leeming. The only reference to this incident that I have located to date is an AM Form 1180 that states the unit the unit the aircraft was with when the mishap occurred with "No.63 Base MS.S.". What this means I do not know. No.63 Base was the joint administrative parts of Skipton on Swale and Leeming airfields. "MS.S." I have no idea what this means. The pilot was a former 427 Squadron pilot who had completed his tour. The aircraft had joined or was about to join 429 Squadron.
Pilot - F/Lt Robert Cecil Penrose DFC RCAF (J/24486).
Four other crew - Names unknown.
Lancaster NG345 was built by Armstrong Whitworth and was initially taken on charge by 433 Squadrn on 21st January 1945. It passed to 434 Squadron soon after and was then taken on charge by 429 Squadron within weeks. The dates it arrived with the squadrons are not recorded on the aircraft's AM Form78. The aircraft may well have just arrived at Leeming on or just before 26th March 1945 and was about to be tested prior to 429 Squadron taking the aircraft on charge. On 31st March 1945 it was lost on Ops to Hamburg that saw five of it's seven man crew being killed while two became PoWs. It was the first Lancaster lost by 429 Squadron.