At 18.34hrs on the 18th of March 1944 Halifax LL178 set out from Croft, Yorkshire, the crew were to undertake a mine laying operation in the Heligoland area. This operation was a diversionary raid whilst Frankfurt was being bombed by 846 other aircraft. This aircraft was one of 98 aircraft which had taken off for this diversion. On board LL178 on this flight, the regular crew had another pilot, Sgt Thicke, he was flying his Dicky mission with this crew in preparation for undertaking operational flying with his own crew who he had gone through training with. All appears to have gone well outbound and with the mine laying part of the trip, the mines being successfully dropped. On the return part of the flight they were given instruction that bad weather had developed over their base. Three of the crew had retired to the rest position on the aircraft for the final part of the trip and whilst the aircraft crossed the Yorkshire coast and made for Croft, they awaited landing. For reasons not ever understood, the aircraft descended through cloud over the North Yorkshire Moors, something they and all crews were briefed not to do. One assumes that they thought they were well over the last of the hills and began their descent to go down to land. The aircraft struck the ground and crashed near Kepwick Bank Top at 23.00hrs killing all on board, with the wreckage catching fire on or soon after impact. The place where the crash occured was literally the last hill they would have to fly over. The crash report states that the aircraft crashed whilst flying at a steep angle. Other sources vary from this and although not the official crash report, another source states that an engine was on fire prior to the crash whilst a further source states the aircraft had been damaged by flak (which seems unlikely given they were mine laying).

A collection of papers and photographs as printed in a Canadian newspaper on 11/11/1991 in rememberance of this crew.