On the 11th of October 1944 this Mosquito was on a transit flight. The pilot was flying in low cloud using his instruments, he climbed to avoid the high ground he was heading towards. It is thought that he only noticed the ground at the last minute and pulled up sharply, control was then lost and the aircraft struck the ground on the down side of the hill just after midday killing both crew. The aircraft was on a flight which was secret at the time, it was carrying " Highball", a smaller version of the bouncing bomb which was intended for use on shipping.
The aircraft was built to contract ACFT/555 by D.H. at Hatfield and delivered to the RAF in March 1944. After acceptance it was issued to 618 Sqdn at Skitten in April 1944. It moved with the unit to Wick on 9th July 1944 and again moved with the unit to Beccles on 21st August 1944. It was written off with Cat E2/FA damage in the above incident.
Pilot - P/O Alfred R W Milne RAFVR, aged 22, of Mitcham, buried Mitcham, Surrey.
Nav / W Op - P/O Eric A Stubbs RAFVR, aged 22, of Guildford, buried Guildford (Stoke) New Cemetery, Surrey.
The Mosquito crashed just above the farm house in a field. Please note: the crash site is on private farm land.
The Mosquito crashed between where I was stood taking the photo and the farm in the centre.
In February 2003 I visited the home of Mr Ken Luck, he was working in fields to the west of Low South House when he heard an aircraft nearby with its engines sputtering, he realised that it was in trouble and for a while thought that the twin engine aircraft was heading right for him. The aircrafts nose then dipped and the aircraft crashed some 500 metres away from him. He recalls the day was Wednesday, market day in Kirkbymoorside, Bransdale was fairly deserted at the time due to that. The aircraft exploded on impact, with the large bomb rolling down the hill into the orchard at the farm.
Being possibly the only witness to the crash the young Mr Luck went to alert the Police about the situation, as there were no telephones in Bransdale at the time he had to ride his bicycle to Gillamoor to alert PC Bell. In a short while the RAF authorities arrived in Bransdale, apparently driving straight through every gates they came to, smashing them down. They interviewed Mr Luck and removed the wreckage. Had the bomb gone off he was told the farmhouse and a wide area of Bransdale would have been destroyed. My thanks goes to Mr Luck for the evening of memories he recounted to me and to Mrs Luck for her hospitality.
Alot of the aircraft was present at the site in a pit until the March 1969 until much was removed by a now defunct group called Yorkshire Aircraft Preservation Society, headed by the legendary Mr Brian Rapier. The tail wheel section from this aircraft was recovered at the time and found its way to the Mosquito rebuild which is now housed at the Yorkshire Air Museum. The Highball carrier was also recovered and is now on display at the same Museum.
The site as it was on the 23rd of August 1973, the nettles show where the dig took place (Photo Mr Graham Sharpe).
The "Highball" was developed by Barnes Wallis as an alternative to the torpedo, it was to be carried by Mosquitos, the Highball could cause more damage to ships than a torpedo as the explosive payload could be larger. The Highball could also skip over the traditional torpedo defences which could be in place. The Tirpitz was to be the first ship attacked by Highball at the same time as the Dam Buster Raids but this was called off as the Germans had secured all areas which could be damaged by bouncing bombs after the Ruhr raid. 618 Squadron was soon transfered to Australia to assist the Americans. The Americans shelved the idea, making the crash on the North Yorkshire Moors of this 618 Sqdn aircraft with a Highball quite rare. .
