On the 27th of September 1943 the crew of this aircraft took off for a night cross-country training exercise.
Three and half hours into the flight and whilst returning to base the aircraft flew into high ground on the North
Yorkshire Moors at 1200 feet at 00.07hrs on the 28th of September. The aircraft reportedly did not catch fire on impact.
Visability was described as being "bad" at the time of the crash. Five airmen were killed instantly, two others were to survive the crash.
RAF Hospital Northallerton's ORB states that ""One survivor had multiple fractures and was severely shocked and lay all night in the rain
in damp heather. Nobody knew about the accident until the next morning when the survivors were found by some soldiers. The mobile
surgical unit took two ambulances and three medical officers to the scene of the accident, the first RAF vehicle to reach it, and
successfully resuscitated and brought down the two survivors. To have moved the man with multiple fractures without resuscitation
would certainly have killed him"". Croft's ORB states the wreckage was not located until 14.30hrs the afternoon after the crash,
so undoubtedly the crash lay undiscovered for some hours.
The survivors were treated at the scene for exposure, shock and fractures before they were taken
to hospital at Northallerton where sadly one died later. The final survivor later stated that he thought the reason for the
crash was that they were simply flying too low at the time, nothing else appeared to him to be out of the ordinary. It was the Units
second loss, having lost a pilot to a crash near Stillington at the start of the month.
The aircraft was built to contract ACFT/637/C4/C by Rootes Securities Ltd at Speke and delivered to Croft on or shortly after the
10th of May 1943 when 1664 HCU formed. It was destroyed with Cat E2/FA damage in the incident detailed above on the 23rd September 1943.
Pilot - F/O Raymond H Highsted RCAF (J26984), aged 21, of New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (Sect C, Row C, Grave 5).
Nav - Sgt John C Mitchell RAFVR (1397975), aged 27, of ?, Cremated Golders Green, Middlesex.
BA - Sgt Frederick J Luckett RAFVR (1800889), aged 21, of New Horsted, buried Chatam Cemetery, Kent.
F Eng - F/Sgt John J (Jim) Timmins RAFVR (1777401), aged 19, of Rowlands Gill, County Durham. Buried High Spen Churchyard, near Winlaton, County Durham.
AG - Sgt James Nelson RAFVR (1002811), aged 23, of Preston, buried Preston New Hall Lane Cemetery, Lancs. Husband of Mary Nelson.
Rear Gunner - Sgt Herbert P D Charlton RAFVR (1318463), aged 22, of South Godstone, Surrey. Buried Godstone, Surrey. Survived crash but died 9 Oct 1943.
W Op / AG - Sgt Charles F West RAFVR (1330246), of Leyton, Essex. Survived the crash seriously injured.
F/O Highsted's grave at Harrogate. He had only arrived at Croft from 24 OTU on the 4th of September 1943, he had however
amassed a total of 554 hours flying, 200 of which being on Halifax's, however only three were at night. Ray was born in
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. It transpires from a a webforum on another website that he was actually named Harold
Raymond Highsted, the reverse of the listing on the CWGC website. Ray had a younger brother, whos son Mr David Highsted,
I learn from the same webforum, was researching his Uncle. Despite attempts to contact him I have as yet been unsuccessful.
If he wished to contact me I have gathered up some information which may be of interest to him. Ray was buried at Harrogate
Stonefall Cemetery on 2nd October 1943.
F/Sgt Timmins was buried at St Patrick's Churchyard in High Spen, County Durham on the 2nd October 1943 not
at Winlaton Churchyard as the CWGC database states, Winlaton is three miles from the actual location.
In the 1970s the St Patrick's Churchyard suffered from subsidence and land slippage. Sadly all the gravestones were removed and destroyed but the
graveyard was made stable, landscaped and then grassed. In the 1960s an engraved stone was placed on a wall of
Hookergate Cemetery, a civil cemetery on land ajoining the church. This plaque carries the names of the War-dead buried there.
John Timmins had a squadron nickname of "Geordie". Prior to enlisting into the RAFVR John Timmins (of Derwent Dene, Orchard Avenue,
Rowlands Gill) volunteered as a Messenger in the ARP where he lived.
This would envolved riding motorcycles and carrying messages over greater distance when necessary. Timmins also worked either making or selling
leather goods during the same period. Such messengers were usually Boy Scouts, or older men with cars. He was also a member
of 1072 Sqdn ATC, he apparently joined 1664 HCU direct from the ATC. He was carried by members of the ATC squadron at his funeral.
My thanks to Mr Brian Pears for much of this information on F/Sgt Timmins and for the photos of the memorial shown above.
The location of this crash site has proven somewhat tricky to locate, over the years numerous researchers have all
tried to find this site with mixed successes.
its probable close proximity to another Halifax, that of LL178 which crashed in the same area some months later,
has hampered the search. Both the Halifax's were of the same type and model number, any peices which remained after the
first crash could have been removed when the second crashed,
or in the years after the wreckage could have been combined as a result of gamekeeper clear-ups. The site of LL178 is
(probably through this website) more well known sites in the modern day North Yorkshire Moors,
where as EB181 has remained some what of a mystery.
Sgt West recovered from his injuries but was killed six months later, when on the 24th April 1944, the 425 Sqdn Halifax he was in
crashed near Topcliffe Airfield, Yorkshire; there were no survivors.
See also 18/3/1944, Halifax LL178 which crashed in the same area.