A Hampden similar to the one which crashed on Westerdale Moor.
The Hampden came down on the 16th of November 1941 on Westerdale Moor after returning early
from a mine laying operation in the Frisians due to icing. It was one of five Hampdens tasked and had taken off at 20.32hrs.
This aircraft drifted off course and probably crossed the English coastline much further north than planned. It flew into a hilltop
at 02.00 hrs less than a minute after a successful descent to locate its position. There is a report that the navigator had literally just
worked out their position moments before the crash but had had no time to warn the pilot about the high ground they were flying towards.
The area where they may have flown over for their position to have been calculated could have been the Tees Estuary or the coastline near Whitby.
Bill Chorley quotes Guisborough Moor, 4 miles SE Middlesbrough in his Losses Book; where as the AM1180 Crash Card simply
states "Guisborough". Later books quote Westerdale Moor as the crash location, where as the wireless operators death
certificate states it occured "west of Stoney Ridge". The "Westerdale" Moor location is probably correct though being
the moor above Westerdale rather than
the actual location on the map which is some way distant. One of the crew was killed, three suffered injuries and two of these
were able to get their own way off the Moor for help.
The aircraft was built to contract 773239/38 by Handley Page Ltd at Radlett and delivered to the RAF in July 1939. After acceptance it was
issued to 44 Sqdn at Waddington on an as yet unspecified date. It was later transferred to 50 Sqdn at Swinderby sometime after July 1941.
It sustained Cat E2/FB damage in the incident on 16th November 1941.
Pilot - Sgt William J Young RAFVR, aged c22, of Fort Jameson, Northern Rhodesia - injured.
Nav - Sgt Donald M Symes RAFVR, aged c19, of Newton Abbott, Devon - injured.
W Op / AG - Sgt Alexander R Bernard RAFVR, aged c21, of Kelty, Scotland - injured.
W Op / AG - Sgt Ronald St C Neale RAFVR, aged 27, of Lambeth, buried Newark Cemetery - killed.
Sgt Kneale's grave at Newark Cemetery.
Whilst the crash location has yet to be found, or even a rough area for the crash fully determined, this photo probably
shows the location: to the west of Stoney Ridge on Westerdale Moor. John Skinn and myself have searched for small remains but have yet to find anything.
A Hampden with Sgt D Symes on board went missing on 12th February 1942, his body was never found. He is commemorated on the
Runnymede Memorial. He was 19 years old and was still with 50 Sqdn.
Sgt Young can not have been seriously injured in the crash detailed above as he was sadly killed less than a month later
on 15 December 1941 when Hampden AE380 crashed into the Sea off Belgium. He is buried at Oostende New Communal Cemetery after
his body was washed ashore. He was 22 years old. His fellow crew were never found.
On 11th January 1942 a Hampden with Sgt Bernard in strayed off course when returning to base at Skellingthorpe, the pilot
tried to make an emergancy landing near Carlisle but all on board died. Sgt Barnard is buried at Beath in Fifeshire, he was 21 years old.