On the 27th of March 1942 this aircraft took off from Leeming in the evening for Ops to St Nazaire. They appear to have been been able to locate the target because of thick cloud and dumped their bomb load over the sea on their way home. The wind had changed direction on their way north and as they neared Yorkshire the aircraft drifted too far west and over high ground. Almost certainly flying in cloud they assumed that were over the Vale of York and descended to try and work out their position. The aircraft flew into the ground in the region of Kirby Malzeard Moor at around 04.00hrs. A fire is broke out soon after it crashed and destroyed the aircraft. Sadly one of the crew was killed in the incident with the other four being injured. The aircraft itself was written off but the engines were deemed reusable and given Cat B. damage. At least one member of the crew, a New Zealander, was able to find his way off the moor for help. A number of other Whitley's sustained damage in incidents away from their airfields in Yorkshire on this night because the change of wind direction was different to that forecast.

Pilot - P/O J A Harrison RNZAF (404870), injured.

WOp - Sgt W P Louthood RCAF (R/77304), injured.

Obs - Sgt Douglas M Colledge RAFVR (1258650), aged 25, of Upper Holloway, London. Buried Leeming Churchyard, Yorkshire.

AG - F/Sgt D M Donovan Fuller RAF.(possibly Michael O'Donovan Fuller (745940))

AG - Sgt A McA Weddell RNZAF.

Sgt Colledge's headstone at Leeming churchyard.

I visited the crash site in July 2008 with Graham Sharpe aided by a couple of local gentlemen, one of whom, Mr Glover, had located the site in the 1960's and had contacted fellow researcher Graham Sharpe. The photograph above shows a peice Mr Glover recovered in the 1960's.

These other photographs show the crash site as it is today, the remaining parts include a near-intact battery and a large peice of the aircrafts main spar.