Halifax in sea off Scarborough.

On the 26th of June 1942 this Halifax was returning from ops to Bremen which was a thousand bomber raid (although 960 aircraft were found). It ran low on fuel so the pilot ditched the aircraft half a mile off Scarborough at 05.30 hrs. The crew took to their dingy and were picked up by a fishing boat, the coble Hilda, and taken ashore, all were ok. The aircraft stayed afloat and was partly broken up by the tide. It was later washed on the Mascus Rocks where a salvage team spent sometime removing the wreckage. It was East Moor's first aircraft loss and it was this aircrafts first operation, they had taken off around midnight. The crew were inexperienced on the Halifax type, it was thought this played some part in the fuel shortage, with some engine mishandling having taken place during the flight. It was also stated that fuel consumption tests had not been carried out prior to take off. The crew were:

Pilot - P/O Leslie E Bradbury RAF, aged 21, of Pulborough, Sussex. At the time of this ditching he had a total of 218 hours flying, seven hours being on the Halifax type, all of which were at night.

Nav - Sgt Aubrey J Fromings RAF, aged 27, of Thornton Heath, Surrey.

Air Bomber - Sgt William J Smart RCAF, aged 20, of ?

W Op / Air Gunner - Sgt William Walton RAFVR, aged 21, of ?

Mid Upper Gunner - Sgt Russell W Brindley RAAF, aged 27, of Camberwell, Victoria, Australia.

F Eng - Sgt Ronald Edlington RAF, of Hull.

Rear Gunner - P/O Reginald A Petherbridge RAFVR, aged 28, of Morayshire, Scotland.