Lancaster at Spaunton.

On the 7th of October 1943 this aircraft was one of 343 Lancasters en route to Stuttgart. This aircraft had just taken off when the flying controls jammed. With some difficulty the pilot managed to climb the aircraft to 4000 feet where the crew abandoned. The aircraft crashed soon after with a full bomb load on board close to Manor Farm, Spaunton at 21.08hrs and on impact it exploded causing a massive blast. All but one of the crew landed safely within a few miles of the crash location, one of the crew had sustained slight injuries. The aircraft however would cause more damage. Carrying a full bomb load the explosion was noted in a Scarborough's ARP-mans war diary so one assumes it was heard some 20 miles away. Sadly there was one fatality involved and it was caused to the farmer at Manor Farm, Mr George Strickland, who was about to come out of his house. He was killed when the blast blew the farm door in on him. A number of other houses in Spaunton were also damaged and "Refugees" living near by had their homes wrecked. I understand that a local man was in bed at the time when the gable wall of his house fell down in the blast, he was lucky to survive.

The post crash investigation considered that severe icing on the surfaces of the aircraft were consider to have been a factor in control to have been lost. However the main theory for control being lost almost immediately after take-off was suggested to have been down to the aircrafts auto-pilot being accidently switched on prior to take-off and this went un-noticed. The Squadron had just converted to Lancasters in the weeks prior to this accident and though the pilot had a total of 331 hours flying time at the time of the crash, only 37 of these were on Lancasters. This flight was apparently the pilots first Operational flight in a Lancaster. He went on to be one of the best pilots 408 Sqdn would have.

Brian Rapier reports in one of his 1970's-era books that the pilot landed in the back garden of his brothers house in Hutton-le-Hole, I have to research this myself, but if true this would suggest that the Harvey family had lived in the Ryedale area, and the pilot had emmigrated to Canada. This needs further research. Others landed as far away as Pockley.

The aircraft was built to contract AC239 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd at Baginton and delivered to MU storage in October 1942 and held there until being issued to 408 Sqdn at Linton on Ouse in August 1943 when the unit converted from Halifaxes to the Lancaster B.II model. It was destroyed in the incident detailed above with Cat E2/FB Burnt damage.

Pilot - F/Sgt John Douglas Harvey RCAF, of Toronto, Canada. Ok. (Possibly known by his middlename).

F Eng - Sgt H J Branton RCAF - ok.

Nav - Sgt Eric J Hurd RCAF, of Sawyerville, Quebec, Canada. Ok.

BA - F/O Stephen W Dempsey RCAF (J/21039), of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Ok.

WOp/AG - P/O George E R Butchart RCAF - ok. (Known as "Slick" or "Rae")

MUG- Sgt Stanley E Campbell RCAF, of Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. Injured, broken arm.

RG - Sgt K L Davison RCAF - ok.

Civilian - Mr George Strickland, killed. Buried Lastingham.

This photograph appeared as the front cover of "The Ryedale Historian" No 13, 1986. I only have the front cover of this publication, I suspect that copyright might exist for this photo, and if it needs an official credit I would be happy to make it. Spaunton Manor is in the centre of the photograph.

Please note that this is private land, I therefore have not visited the site. The aircraft is thought to have crashed in the field just off the right side of this photograph and in an area now occupied by a healthy crop of stinging nettles.

The grave of Mr George Otterburn Strickland who was killed when the door of his house blew inwards as he was about to go through it. The family still run the farm. He was born on 23rd June 1890 and died on 7th October 1943.

John Harvey (pictured above) was born in Swansea, Ontario, Canada on 7th August 1942 where he lived prior to enlisting in Toronto on 7th November 1941. Following training in Canada and the UK he served with 408 Sqdn and was with this Unit when the incident above occured. WO2 Harvey was still serving with 408 Sqdn on 15/16th February 1944 when his aircraft was hit by flak whilst on Ops to Berlin, they were able to return home. he was later Commissioned in 1944. He was also awarded the DFC as P/O Harvey (J/85081), Gazetted on 19th May 1944, the citation reads..

""This officer has participated in very many sorties, involving attacks on most of the enemy's heavily defended targets. He has invariably displayed great skill and courage and his example in pressing home his attacks has been worthy of much praise. In the course of his tour, Pilot Officer Harvey has attacked Berlin on eleven occasions.""

Having taken part in the highest number of Ops to Berlin for any pilot in 408 Squadron John Harvey was presented with a gold watch.

He survived the War and returned home where he went to Toronto University before rejoining the RCAF and later retired in 1965 as W/Co and was also the executive director of the RCAF Association and a founding editor of Airforce magazine. he died in Victoria on 16th January 1998.

P/O Eric Hurd RCAF (C/18877) was also awarded the DFC with 408 Sqdn, on 24th May 1944. He was born in Sawyerville in 1920 but enlisted in London, England on 27th March 1942. He was Commissioned in 1943 (one assumes later than the Spaunton incident in Oct 1943). there was no citation to his DFC as such other than ""completed...many successful operations against the enemy in which [he has] displayed high skill, fortitude and devotion to duty."" the recommendation for this award also states that ""Pilot Officer Hurd has nearly completed his first tour of operations. As a navigator he has been responsible for directing his aircraft on many occasions to very distant targets in enemy territory, including over eleven trips to Berlin. He has at all times displayed great keenness and devotion to duty."" There is however a list of all the Ops he had taken part in upto the DFC. As a result almost certainly many of this crew flew these ops, they were...

24 July 43, Hamburg

25 July 43, Essen

27 July 43, Hamburg

29 July 43, Hamburg

30 July 43, Remscheid

2 Aug 43, Hamburg, detailed below.

18 Nov 43, Berlin, landed at Tangmere due to being short of fuel.

22 Nov 43, Berlin

26 Nov 43, Berlin

2 Dec 43, Berlin

16 Dec 43, Berlin

20 Dec 43, Frankfurt

29 Dec 43, Berlin

1 Jan 44, Berlin

5 Jan 44, Stettin

14 Jan 44, Brunswick

20 Jan 44, Berlin

21 Jan 44, Magdeburg, landed at Waterbeach on return.

27 Jan 44, Berlin, flying Lancaster DS692, attacked by an Me110. Sgt Campbell returned fire and shot it down, he was awarded a DFC for this (see below).

28 Jan 44, (Berlin, returned early so did not count as an Op for their Tour.)

30 Jan 44, Berlin

15 Feb 44, Berlin, hit by flak.

19 Feb 44, Leipzig

24 Feb 44, Schweinfurt, landed at Westcott on return.

15 Mar 44, Stuttgart, the rear turret failed on return.

Here after no complete list has been found as yet but...

30 Mar 44, Nurnburg, jettisoned bomb load as no indicators were seen. Landed at Moreton in the Marsh on return.

The Hamburg raid they took part in on 2nd/3rd August 1943 deserves further investigation. What is known is that the raid was a failure because of severe icing and thunder storms before they release their bombs. This particular aircraft iced up. All aircraft were ordered to bomb from between 15,000ft and 20,000ft and with control being limited the pilot, F/Sgt Harvey, ordered the crew to bale out. The wireless operator, Sgt R Shire RCAF, complied and was eventually made a PoW. What happened next is yet not known but the aircraft began to loose height and the rest of the crew were probably unable to get out. In the process the pilot had sustained some injuries. Initially trapped in his turret the rear gunner, Stan Campbell and found himself acting as a stand-in pilot. The aircraft had lost approaching 10,000ft in height before control was regained, Stan Campbell then acted as pilot and guided the aircraft home with the remaining crew on board. This information was found in Stan Campbell's obituary, and whilst slightly biased towards him, there is no doubt some truth to these events however had he single handedly regained control of a crippled bomber and flew it home saving the life of his injured pilot then surely he would be put up for an award of the highest honour; as he wasn't suggests had some part in the aircraft returning to the UK and the story was told in later years! He was nick-named "The Hamburg Kid" by his crew after this incident which does suggest some degree of truth to the matter. Pretty much the whole of the crew named above are thought to have been involved in this incident. Having lost their wireless operator they were joined by F/O Butchart. Eric Hurd died in 1988, late of Mapleleaf, Compton Co, Quebec.

F/O Stephen Dempsey RCAF (J/21039) was also awarded the DFC, born in 1920 in Consecon; he enisted in Toronto on 4th August 1941. Following his training he was eventually Commissioned in 1942. After service with 408 Sqdn he was posted to 419 Sqdn and was awarded the DFC on 19th May 1944 (The same date as Harvey). The citation reads...

""As air bomber, this officer has completed a large number of sorties, including many against heavily defended and far distant targets. Throughout, he has displayed the greatest keenness and his example of courage and determination has been of a high order. He has proved himself to be a most valuable member of aircraft crew.""

P/O Stanley Campbell RCAF (J/85691) was also awarded the DFC with 408 Sqdn (effective from 16th June 1944). He was born in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada on 3rd April 1921 and enlisted in Calgary on 2nd April 1942. Following training he was posted to 408 Sqdn. The citation reads..

""As air gunner, this officer has taken part in very many attacks on a variety of well defended targets including eleven on Berlin. On one occasion in an operation against the German capital his aircraft was engaged by a fighter. Although the enemy attacked with much persistence, Pilot Officer Campbell directed the necessary combat manoeuvres with great skill. Finally Pilot Officer Campbell delivered a well placed burst of fire and the attacker dived towards the ground enveloped in flames. He defended his aircraft with great coolness and confidence, qualities which have made him a most valuable member of aircraft crew.""

Stan Campbell returned to Ottawa in October 1944, why this was the case is not yet known but it could have been that this broken arm he sustained in a bad landing near Spaunton did not heal properly and he his War was cut short and he was able to return home because of this. He was discharged from the RCAF and was placed in the Reserve and returned to his native Drumheller and married Elizabeth on 18th February 1945. He worked for a large construction firm until retirement in 1988 before battling Parkinson's Disease for many years. He lost this fight in April 2002.

Thanks to Mr Hugh Halliday's research into RCAF Awards, much of this information on John Harvey, Stephen Dempsey, Stanley Campbell and Eric Hurd is taken.

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