Halifax NR144 at Linton on Ouse airfield.
On the evening of 4th February 1945 this 426 Squadron aircraft was to have been flown on an operational flight to bomb Osterfield Coking Plant. The crew took off from Linton on Ouse at 17.27hrs. Two minutes after taking off the aircraft had managed to climb to 2,000 feet when the starboard outer engine began to fail. The crew flew out to sea and jettisoned the bomb load at 18.04hrs. It took them until 19.38hrs before they landed at Linton on Ouse airfield but unfortunately the aircraft swung off the runway and ran onto flooded and waterlogged ground causing water to be thrown up. The aircraft's flaps were struck the by the water and sustained minor damage. The flooding was caused by cement grout having been washed into the airfield's drains and blocking them. Unfortunately the 426 Squadron records only list the pilot's of their aircraft undertaking operational sorties during this period so the rest of the crew is unconfirmed.
Pilot - P/O Duncan Rhoderick Black RCAF (J/89826).