Halifax VI RG482 at Pocklington.
During the afternoon of 30th July 1945 this 102 Squadron aircraft was flown on a basic circuits and landings training exercise at Pocklington airfield. During one of the take off runs the starboard outer engine as it set off down the runway. Having much more power on one side of the aircraft than the other caused the aircraft to swing off the runway. Instead of attempting to reduce power and slow the aircraft the pilot attempted to get airborne. It managed to get to 150 feet off the ground and clear the airfield boundary but as the flaps were raised instead of the undercarriage this affected the lift so it lost height and crashed into Park House, just off the airfield boundary at 15.35hrs. Four aircrew in the aircraft were found to have died in the crash. The town N.F.S. and airfield fire tenders managed to rescue the rear gunner but he died of his injuries soon after. The householder of Red House was slightly injured and her father narrowly missed being injured. The adjoining house a nine feet high wall was demolished and other aspects of the garden damaged but the house appears to have been undamaged (this was probably Sherbutt House). Many of this crew had been posted in to 102 Squadron after V.E.Day including the pilot, who had over 1000 flying hours to his name but very few flying a Halifax. The undercarriage and flap levers in the Halifax cockpit were very close together and many Halifax mishap resulted when someone used the wrong lever. It was the second time Red House was struck by an aeroplane. On 10th August 1943 Halifax JB794 hit it while making an approach to land and then crashed into a field soon after.
Pilot - F/Lt Stanley Bernard Dalmais RAFVR (132796), aged 32. Buried Pocklington Burial Ground, Yorkshire (U.46.3128).
Navigator - Sgt Robert Dashwood Frost RAFVR (1818309), aged 20. Buried Swithland Churchyard, Leicestershire.
Bomb Aimer - Sgt James Milne RAFVR (1569994), aged 22. Buried Alyth Cemetery, Perthshire.
Flight Engineer - Sgt Raymond Leonard Williams RAFVR (1837245), aged 20. Buried Cardiff (Cathays) Cemetery, Glamorganshire.
Wireless Operator - Sgt Walter Hall Bradshaw RAFVR (2209908), aged 20. Buried Salford (Weaste) Cemetery, Lancashire.
House owner - Mrs Hilda Blanche Etherington. Arm injuries.
Red House was/is on the northern corner of Yapham Road and Garths End, it is marked on historic maps dated 1913 so was clearly one of the older properties on Yapham Road at the time. The version of the photograph shown here was found on the IBCC website and is by far the best version of the photograph I have seen, it was also printed in newspapers in 1945. It shows a much grander property that it is today, clearly two storeys with a substantial attic space and with an L-shaped footprint. In the front of the photograph is a brick wall on which the Halifaxes rear fuselage is resting, this wall must be the wall alongside Yapham Road and some of this still exists today. Today the property is a single story semi-detached bungalow but using an L-shaped footprint. Distinct brick patterns on the standing corner of the crash photograph match how the bungalow is today. It appears that damaged house was re-built as a bungalow after the war using the same footprint, just converted into a smaller house and retaining the original lower part of the frontage.
Halifax RG482 was built by English Electric at Samlesbury and delivered new to 102 Squadron on 18th February 1945. It sustained Cat.Ac/FB damage on 25th March 1945 but the squadron records do not state any details for what may have happened, it was flown operationally on that date to Osnabruck. A repair was made on site by Handley Page and it was returned to 102 Squadron on 12th April 1945. On 16th April 1945 it went to 45 M.U. for some reason before posting back to 102 Squadron. Following the crash at Pocklington on 30th July 1945 Cat.E/FA damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge on 4th August 1945.
Four of the five graves of the airmen killed in this accident.
