Hurricane P3522 in its early life during the Battle of Britain whilst serving with 32 Sqdn.

On the 10th of January 1941 the pilot of this Hurricane was flying in formation when he became detached from his section leader and became lost when flying in cloud. The aircraft crashed at a shallow angle into high ground in the snow covered Yorkshire Dales on Caldbergh Moor, south of Scrafton near Leyburn. The pilot was sadly killed in the crash and was probably flying vertually level at the time of the crash. The wreckage was not found for sometime, the police records state that it was discovered at 14.00hrs on the 22nd of January 1941. In the years after the crash the pilot's mother erected a memorial on the site of the crash. The pilot had only 17 hours flying a Hurricane at the time of this incident. It was then stated that pilots flying with operational units should have a minimum of 20 hours flying the type prior to joining the units.

Pilot - Sgt Eric G Bruce RAF, aged 20, of Middlesbrough. Buried West Acklam Church, Yorkshire.

Sgt Eric Bruce RAF (photo Ms Jacqui Bruce Smith, the neice of the pilot) and his grave.

Sgt Bruce's gravestone in West Acklam churchyard.

The memorial stone at the crash site.

John Skinn, Howard Newbould and myself visited the crash site in October 2003, not much in the way of actual aircraft remains at the site, only afew small peices of the aircraft were found nearby. The memorial can be seen from quite a distance. Though the aircraft appears to have impacted 20 feet from this memorial, a crater/propmark is visable when the heather is short. I revisited the area again after the heather had been burnt off in summer 2006.

My thanks to Jacqui Bruce-Smith for contacting me and for the photograph of her uncle she kindly provided.