This Beaufighter was an RAF aircraft on loan to the USAAF based at Scorton near Catterick.
The aircraft took off from Scorton on the 22nd of June 1943 for an evening exercise with three
airmen on board, the crash report states it was an air firing exercise.
Whilst on this flight the aircraft encountered engine trouble whilst over the
Moors in the Commondale area. At 17.50hrs and flying roughly south, the pilot tried to make a forced landing in a field in Westerdale.
For reasons not yet known to me the aircraft broke up on landing and scattered parts across the
field, both wings and the tail section broke away as well. The actual cockpit and fuselage sections
remains fairly intact with two of the airmen still being inside it, sadly these two were killed
in the crash. The other airman was thrown out of the aircraft in the crash, he was found by a
Mrs Jane Smurthwaite who was staying with family at a nearby farm. She was first on the scene and
dragged the airman out of the river and onto the bank side and waited for help to arrive. The injured
airman was taken to Catterick Military Hospital for treatment where it is thought he survived. The aircrafts dingy was thought to have inflated in the crash and found its way into the river not far from the airman.
The crash was later put down to the failure of one of the crew to select the correct fuel tanks.
The aircraft was built to contract B30264/39 by The Bristol Aeroplane Company Ltd at Filton and delivered to the RAF in April 1943.
After acceptance at MU it was issued on a 'reverse lend-lease' to 417 Night Fighter Sqdn U.S.A.A.F. at Scorton in June 1943,
who had just arrived in the UK from Orlando, Florida, where they had completed their night figther training. The aircaft was written off days later with
Cat E2/FA damage on 22nd June 1943 in the incident detailed above.
Pilot - Flt Off Frank McLain USAAF, of Harding County, South Dakota, USA. Initially buried Brookwood Cemetery, London. Re-buried Cambridge Madingley Cemetery, Plot C Row 2 Grave 71.
Passanger - Cpl Walter T Dyer Jr USAAF, of Montague County, Texas, USA. Initially buried Brookwood Cemetery, London, Re-buried Cambridge Madingley Cemetery, Plot D Row 1 Grave 58.
Nav - Flt Off Hendershot USAAF, injured, taken to Catterick Military Hospital.
The aircraft is thought to have crashed into the fields shown on this photograph.
