The East Kirkby Lancaster.
The Lancaster flew into high ground in the early hours of the 18th of October 1944 after the aircraft lost control in cloud whilst on
night cross country training flight. The explosion was said to be massive, a local farmer thought that the aircraft must have been carrying a bomb
load which all blew up on impact. This explosion made a huge crater and scattered wreckage over a wide area. The tail wheel was found near
the bottom of the hill by a farmer, I have also been told that the rear turret was also blown off and was found at the bottom of the hill
in a hedge. The RAF cleared the site at the time by simply pushing the majority of the large peices of wreckage into the crater which later
became grown over. A good few years later, young boys were exploring the moor, the discovered the wreckage filled crater and
began routing about in it. They discovered alot of un-spent although useless .303 rounds which they took away to show friends at school. A
near perfect Merlin engine was found at the bottom of the crater with simply a hole in the rocker cover. Word eventually got out that these
boys had found live ammo at the site, the local police man informed the RAF and they removed everything from the crater and filled the hole
in. A prop blade from this aircraft was also found by these children but was too heavy for them to carry far, it was abandoned in a hedge
somewhere near Swainby.
The seven crew were killed instantly in the crash.
The aircraft was built to contract ACFT/239 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd at Baginton and delivered directly to 630 Sqdn in September 1944.
It was written off with Cat E2/FA Burnt damage in the above incident. The loss gets a brief mention in Leeming'ss O.R.B. which states:
"18.10.44. 02.30 hrs. Halifax crashed into hill at Osmotherley. All killed." There appears to have been problems in identifying the wreck.
Pilot - P/O Dennis A Brammer RAFVR, aged 24, of Clayton, buried Stone, Staffs.
F Eng - Sgt Leonard G Cook RAFVR, aged 20, of Paddington, buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.
Nav / Bomber - W/O Gerald J Davis RAF, aged 34, of Sunderland, County Durham. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.
Nav / Bomber - Sgt William A White RAFVR, aged 21, of Enfield, Middlesex. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.
W Op / Air Gunner - Sgt Dennis G Holyoak RAFVR, aged 21, of Birmingham, buried Birmingham Yardley Cemetery. Husband of Gladys Mary Holyoak.
Air Gunner - Sgt John C Fitzpatrick RAFVR, aged 20, of Doveridge, Derbyshire. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.
Air Gunner - Sgt Clifford J Evans RAFVR, aged 35, of Bridgend, buried Bridgend, Wales.
Sgt White's headstone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery and P/O Brammer's gravestone at Stone Churchyard.
John and myself visited the site in March 2003, only a little wreckage remains where the aircraft came to rest. The majority of it is in a small area but a little more was found some way up the hill.
Most of what where fairly substantial remains were cleared away in the 1970s by the RAF after local children appeared in school with live ammo from the site.
I revisited the site in September 2003. I located a couple more interesting items, firstly the aircraft's fuel gauge dial which is in suprisingly good condition and secondly a half crown coin dated from before the crash. It is more than likely to have come from a pocket of one of the aircrew who perished in the crash. (Pics to come of these).
The East Kirkby Lancaster.
My thanks to Mr Tony Hodge for telling me what he recalled about this crash, he lived in Swainby at the time and visited the crash at the time as a boy.