The crash of the Mosquito Mk30 happened on the 8th November 1946. The aircraft was on a training flight from RAF Leeming, it was flying
in heavy cloud and it is thought that control was lost due to severe icing. Whatever the cause, it dived into the ground from a height in
cloud,
and exploded leaving a large crater. Mr George H Clark of nearby Birk Nab Farm and his brother were working in fields near the farm, they
saw the aircraft come out of cloud at a very steep angle and was very low. Mr Clark then saw the aircraft crash into the moor 1.5 miles
away. He and his brother then ran to the scene but the crew were killed instantly. Engines of the aircraft buried themselves in the moor
but are believed to have been dug up in the 1960s either by Mr Ward of Chop Gate or a York based organisation.
The aircraft was built to contract 1/576 by D.H Ltd at Leavesden and delivered to 218 MU at Colerne on 18th November 1944. It was
issued to CFE at Wittering on 11th December 1944 before being transferred to 54 OTU at Charterhall on 17th May 1945. It moved with the
unit to East Moor in November 1945 and moved with this unit to Leeming on 7th July 1946. It was written in the incident detailed above with
Cat E2/FA Burnt damage and was struck off charge months later (for some unknown reason) on 3rd July 1947.
Pilot - S/Ldr Noel D "Dan" Hallifax RAF, aged 27, of Warren Mayfield, Sussex. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Trainee Nav - F/O Roy E Chater RAFVR, aged 21, of Sidcup, Surrey. Cremated Mitcham, South London.
Noel "Dan" Hallifax's grave at Harrogates Stonefall Cemetery. The correct spelling of his name is under confusion, almost every
source from the era of his death gives his name with two letter "L"s, it now transpires that he was held at Colditz and gus
surname appears recorded there with the more common variant of his name.
He was a Hurricane pilot with No.3 Squadron and was shot down during
the Battle of France. According to Fighter Command Losses book 1, P/O N D Hallifax was flying a patrol aboard Hurricane N2422
on 15th May 1940 when he was shot down in combat with Me-110 near Zeebrugge and he became a prisoner of war. He was held at the infamous
Colditz Castle as a PoW. The photograph above of him is taken from a website dedicated to the Castle, "Colditzcastle.net".
He was made a S/Ldr on 1st October 1946, gazetted 1st November 1946 having being made a Temporary S/Ldr
on the 1st July 1943 which must have been whilst he was a PoW.
The site of crash on Pockley Moor.
I have visited this site a number of times. I first visited the site in 1995 with Ben Thompson and Steve Sutherland, we found there
to be a small amount of wreckage remaining in the large impact crater. Since then I have made a number of trips to the site and the
quantity of remaining wreckage decreases on every visit.
The majority of the remaining wreckage at the crash site.
A photograph of one of the propellers at the site was published in "White Rose Base" by Brian Rapier. This has long gone from the
site, its current location is unknown.
