On the 5th of October 1940 the crew of this aircraft took off from Cottesmore to carry out a night navigation exercise. The crew became lost in bad visibilty (and with possibly a problem with the wireless set), the pilot descended through cloud to try and help work out their position. At 20.20hrs the aircraft struck the ground near How Tallon, crashed through a stone wall and caught fire. The crew were able to get clear of the wreckage before it burnt out. One of the crew had broken both his legs in the crash, he and at least one other member of the crew dragged themselves to a nearby hut on the hilltop to await rescue. One presunes the other two, being less injured went for help.
Pilot - P/O Derrick J Fielder RAFVR (80837), aged ?
? - Sgt Hawes RAF, injured.
? - Sgt White RAF.
? - Sgt Gray RAF, injured.
I located the crash site in June 2007, nowhere near published map references for the location of the incident.
On the way to try and find the site I bumped into the landowner who directed me to the site and
told me much of the above. The wall was later rebuilt and the burnt area has recovered fairly well in the 67 years since the crash.
I would like to thank the farmer for his help and time assisting me with this research. I did not get his name.
P/O Fielder was sadly killed on 28th December 1940 when his Hampden was flying in failed to return from a raid on Lorient.
By this stage he appears to have been dropped as a pilot and was now a navigator. Hampden P2097
crashed in Berkshire with all four of the crash sadly being killed. He was serving with 83 Sqdn and is buried Chislehurst Churchyard,
Kent. In the weeks prior to his incident in Yorkshire in October 1940, on 9th May 1940 the then Sgt Fielder crashed 14 OTU's Hereford L6016
in Leicestershire whilst on a training exercise. He had trained at 6 FTS and had gained his Wings in October 1939