On the 11th December 1941 this aircraft took off from Leeming at 16.30hrs for Ops to Koln. On the crew's return to Yorkshire they became lost in bad visabilty and because of a faulty altimeter the pilots were attempting to fly with the ground in sight. At 01.43hrs the aircraft became caught in what was reported as a severe down draught and soon after it crashed. This would probably have been the first lump of high ground they encountered after flying over the Vale of York. It crashed on Eavestone Moor, between Ripon and Pateley Bridge killing one of the crew and injuring the other four on board.
Pilot - P/O John H Kenny RAFVR (67700), of Eastbourne, Sussex. Injured in this incident.
Pilot - Sgt Eric C Hoskin RAFVR (1209438), aged 25, of Sandiacre. Buried Sandiacre (st Giles) Churchyard, Derbyshire. He was married at the time of his death.
P/O Burgess, injured, no further details.
Sgt Taylor, injured, no further details.
Sgt Clarke, injured, no further details.
I attempted to try and locate the crash site in March 2007 but failed to find any trace of the aircraft. The area shown on the above photograph is the location widely quoted as where the aircraft came down. Had I looked in the correct place here I doubt very much would remain, nearby roads would have made access to site easy at the time of the crash and much of it was probably removed at the time.
The then F/Lt John Kenny DFC and Bar sadly lost his life on 7th August 1944 serving with 139 Sqdn, aged 30 he is buried at Southampton's Hollybrook Cemetery. His aircraft Mosquito KB202 caught fire after overshooting a landing in fog at their Upwood base. He was probably flying at the start of the War.
The long term fate of the three other survivors is not yet known.