In the evening of the 5th of September 1942 the crew of this aircraft set out from Silloth to carry out a night cross-country navigation exercise. The weather on this night was poor and low cloud was covering the high ground in the north-west of England. Having become lost and the weather almost certainly making contact with the ground impossibly the aircraft flew into Cross Fell around 00.30hrs killing all on board. 83 MU would later clear the site in the main thogh fragments do still remain.

The incident is well detailed in other sources, probably the best being David Earls book "Hell on High Ground 2", a book I have plugged afew times on this website but well worth a read.

Pilot - P/O Paul A Bourke RAFVR (116160), aged 28, of Bournemouth. Buried Bournemouth East Cemetery.

Nav - Sgt John Bumpstead RAFVR (1017138), aged 28, of Darnall, Sheffield. Buried Tinsley Park Cemetery, Sheffield, Yorkshire.

WOp/AG - Sgt Ronald W Hewitt RAFVR (1380777), aged ? Buried Solihull, Warwickshire.

WOp/AG - Sgt Leslie T Griffin RAFVR (1380956), aged 31, of Kenton. Buried Wembley (Alperton) Burial Ground, London.

WOp/AG - Sgt Robert Band RAFVR (1376686), aged 29, of Woking, Surrey. Cremated Woking, Surrey.

The view looking towards the Lake District from the crash site.

A view of the general area of the crash site taken from the flank of Little Dun Fell, a memorial cairn is visable towards the right of the photograph with much of the remaining wreckage to be found below it in the area of darker rock.

I visited the site in April 2007.