Halifax LL505 FD-S came to grief on Great Carrs in the Lake District on the night of
the 22nd of October 1944 whilst on a night navigation exercise from Topcliffe in Yorkshire.
The crew, seven Canadians and one Britain, encountered very thick cloud whilst over the north-west, the aircraft circled hoping the cloud would clear but this made the crew even more lost.
The pilot then descended so the navigator could get a visual fix on the ground. By this time it was flying too low in the heart of the Lakes. In a few seconds the aircraft hit the top of Great Carr and crashed killing all
on board. The aircraft however was almost intact when found by rescuers, as they could not remove it from the site and because if left other aircraft flying overhead would report it, it was cut up and pushed off into Broad Slack, where alot remains today.
Pilot - F/O John A Johnston RCAF (C/29783), aged 27, of Carp, Ontario, Canada. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
Nav - F/O Francis A Bell RCAF (J/39888), aged 33, of Hampton, New Brunswick, Canada. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
BA - P/O Robert N Whitley RCAF (J/38243), aged 20, of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
FEng - Sgt Harvey E Pyche RCAF (R/225354), aged 21, of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Canada. Buried Blacon Cemetery,Chester.
FEng - Sgt William B Ferguson RAFVR (1826294), aged 19, of Caldercruix. Buried New Monkland Cemetery, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
WOp / AG - Sgt Calvin G Whittingstall RCAF (R/198207), aged 20, of Mount Dennis, Ontario, Canada. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
AG - Sgt Donald F Titt RCAF (R/271259), aged 19, of Rockwood, Ontario, Canada. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
AG - Sgt George Riddoch RCAF (R/259938), aged 20, of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
Headstones of five of the crew at Chester's Blacon Cemetery. Thanks to Alan Clark for these photos.
Sgt Ferguson's Grave at New Monklands Cemetery, Airdrie. he is buried with his brother.
This crash site is possibly the most visited site in Britain due to the amount of wreckage there. I visited Broad Slack, where the wreckage was pushed into, in June 2002 with Ben. The two large wing sections are still on the scree slopes along with part of the fuselage and other large peices.
We found wreckage scattered down the hillside for a good half a mile. A Rolls Royce Merlin engine lies in a stream with two of the four propeller bosses nearby. As Ben had visited the cairn and the memorial at the top of Great Carrs a few years previous we didn't go to the top of the scree to
pay our respects that day. Will, Caroline and myself visited the memorial at the top of Great Carrs in May 2003 and we then revisted the remains in Broad Slack.
Two of the Merlin's were removed from the site afew years ago by an RAF Chinnock helicopter to be placed in museums, one is at the Ruskin Museum in nearby Coniston along with another propeller boss and gear. The other is at an RAF museum in the south. I am told that the Yorkshire Air Museum has one of the engines also and one of the other engines recovered was residing in Coniston Church Yard,
though I think this to be the one now at the Ruskin Museum in the village.
Some more of Halifax LL505 was removed from the site to enable the Yorkshire Air Museum to construct the only 'complete' Halifax in existance. The Air Museum in Newark has a sizeable peice of its fuselage around the mid upper turret. Other parts have no doubt sadly found there way into peoples sheds, garages and homes never to be seen again.
Another engine from Halifax LL505 at the Ruskin Museum, Coniston
Wing section.
Two of the Merlin engines which were present at the site in 1984, the one nearest the camera being the one now at the Ruskin Museum (photo Mr Jim Andrew).
One of the aircraft's undercarriage legs and the newly created memorial as it was in 1984 (Photo Mr Jim Andrew).
