The winter of 1939-40 was a very severe one. On this night, Sunday the 11th of February 1940, three Hudson's took off from Thornaby
for ops to Heligoland. It was a cold night and snow covered the hills.
The lead aircraft failed to gain enough height on take off, probably due it icing on the aircrafts wings. It flew very low over Great
Ayton and crashed into the first peice of high ground it came to, the North York Moors. The aircraft flew into the moor just below a
stone wall before travelling through the
wall and then onto the hill top near to Captain Cooks Monument, above Great Ayton. The crash ripped the underside of the aircraft off
and it ploughed its way across the snow covered moor for a short before coming to rest in a small wood on its side. One witness who I
have spoke to recalls it had one wing broken off and the remaining wing which was still attached to the main fuselage, was left sticking
up in the air. Of the four crew on board,
three were killed whilst only the gunner survived. After being knocked out for a while, he came too and with two
injured legs, he struggled down the hillside to get help at a nearby farm close to Easby, taking a rest in old mine buildings on the way
down. It was later found out that icing to the wings had been responsible
for the aircraft failing to gain enough height. The Court of Inquiry states: "Ice on windscreen caused loss of visability" was the reason
for the crash although it is unclear why they thought this. A pigeon called "Polly" trained by a Mr Hartas of Grove Hill, Middlesbrough,
though injured, survived the crash and returned home and later received an award in recognition of pidgeon bravery!
The majority of the wreckage was left at the site for a time after the crash due to the heavy snow on the ground, a RAF guard was placed
on the aircraft during this time however. The guard appears not to have stopped youngsters helping themselves to bits of the plane however.
When the snow had melted some young boys from Great Ayton were exploring and they discovered a yellow painted bomb, they informed the RAF
guard at the site about this and it became apparent that the RAF had been looking for it as it was unaccounted for. It was however thought
to be a dummy or a dud by the boys (or now thought to be full of alluminium bits to be dropped on the sea). One of the boys, Mr Bell now
of Scarth Nick, has recounted his memories of this and other aircraft crashes in the area to me.
I have deliberately excluded alot of information now available about this crash. Ian Pearce has written a very detailed book on the whole
incident which is now on sale. I do not wish to "tread on his toes" by copying his work.
The aircraft was built to contract 791587/38 by Lockheed-Vega at Burbank, California and delivered by sea to the UK, arriving in
September 1939. After erection and acceptance at MU it was issued to 220 Sqdn on an as yet unspecified date. It sustained Cat W/FA
damage in the above incident.
Pilot - F/O Tom MacKinlay Parker RAF, aged 21, of Bedford, buried Thornaby on Tees.
Pilot - Sgt Harold F Bleksley RAF, aged 24, of Sea Mills, buried Bristol (Canford).
WOp - Corp Norman R Drury RAF, aged 23, of North Walsham, Norfolk, buried North Walsham.
Air Gunner - LAC Atholl Barker RAF, aged 16, of Bradford. Injured.
It is though that Barker had lied about his age to enlist. His birth was registered in the June quarter of 1914, leaving me to
suspect that he was born around May of 1914. He was later to return to action with 220 Sqdn, he was Commissioned but was sadly killed
along with the rest of his crew when their 7 Sqdn Lancaster came down over Germany on the 22nd November 1943.
F/O Parker and his headstone at Thornaby. He was the brother of the late Sir Peter Parker who ran British Rail from 1976 to 1983.
Sgt Harold Bleksley in his RAF uniform.
The Hudson struck a wall near the wood, to the left of the monument on top of the hill. The forest below the wall was cut down in mid 2006.
The aircraft struck the wall just behind the small tree (on the left photo) and as a result the plane skidded to a halt through and past the area of moor shown on the photo on the right.
John Skinn and myself located the crash site in May 2003, the area around Captain Cooks Monument is a tourist hot spot so we didn't really think we would find any wreckage what so ever. This was not to be the case, we located a handful of small peices of alloy and what had to be aircraft fragments.
I also located a watch at the site but it belonging to any of the crew was discounted due to it being very visable ( I have been told since that it could well have been the aircrafts clock). The extreme amount of litter on the moor was unbelievable relating to barbecue and beer-can waste. This made the search for aircraft parts slightly confusing.
We also established that the Hudson had struck a wall either on impact with the ground or slighty after. Dressed stones from the wall were found scattered across the crash site and not anywhere else on the moor. We also located two craters where the aircrafts engines are said to have come to rest close by and a large crater made after the RAF blew up the bomb load some days later.
On a windy 8th October 2003 a memorial plaque was dedicated near the site of the crash. It was officiated by Rev Paul Peverall of Christchurch, Great Ayton and Rev Wing Commander Nick Heron of RAF Leeming. Around fifty people were in attendance included relatives of Sgt Bleksley and Corp Drury, veterans of 220 Squadron, locals who were children when the crash occured, other aviation enthusiasts, local school children and me. Not to mention TyneTees TV and local newspaper reporters. Wreaths were laid next to the plaque after the service. A planned RAF flypast by a Hawk however did not happen sadly. The Great Ayton Community Archaeology Project under the leadership in this case of Ian Pearce were responsible for the well planned event. Ian Pearce has also written a very detailed book on the whole crash, mission and crew members, copies can be bought from him direct at a cost of £9.95 plus P+P, his phone number is 01642 722964.
Two sheets given to me about the dedication service and events.
Press reports of the dedication by the D&S Times (left) and Northern Echo (right). The Evening Gazette also had an article about the service.
My wife and I visited the site again in March 2005 and found afew bits of the aircraft.
I would like to thank Mr R Bleksley, nephew of Sgt Bleksley, for contacting me regarding his Uncle
and I would also like to thank Mr and Mrs Willies for contacting me regarding their close family relative, Corp Drury.
Both airmen lost their lives in this accident. In addition I would like to thank Mr Bell for recounting his memories of this crash.
The former I was able to put in contact with Mr Pearce as his book was being written.
Atholl Barker was killed later in the War, he had gone to Bomber Command and was killed on the 22nd Nov 1943 when the Lancaster he was rear gunner to was shot down over Germany.
