Lancaster at Dormanstown, Middlesbrough.
On the 17th of December 1942 the crew on this aircraft set out from Holme-on-Spalding Moor for a mine laying
operation to the Heligoland area, and the six mines were dropped without incident. On their return to Yorkshire the weather over the North Sea
were very bad, 10/10ths cloud was reported with the cloub base all the way down to sea level in places. The aircraft drifted off course
slightly and ended up to far north by the time they reached land fall.
At the same time the Luftwaffe were making their attack on York
(this would see two of their aircraft crash on the North Yorkshire Moors on the same night - and detailed on this website in the Moors section).
As well as this attack on York, enemy aircraft were also operating further north, incendiaries were dropped on a Starfish Decoy site at New Marske.
a short time after this bombs were dropped near New Marske this Lancaster crossed the coastline near Warrenby Ironworks. At this stage in the flight
the Lancasters IFF transmitting device had ceased to work, or was not switched on, as a result the radar on the ground could not tell the Lancaster was not a so
called "Friendly" aircraft and assumed it to be hostile.
Flying over the Warrenby Ironworks at around
250 feet the Bofur guns sited at the plant could hardly miss. Several hits were scored on the Lancaster which eyewitnesses
describe as quite literally blowing it out of the sky. The majority of the aircraft crashed near what is now Steel House,
Dormanstown at 22.10 hrs. The airmen on board did not stand a chance, they sadly were all killed. Immediately after the crash
a message was sent from Redcar to 6 Group control stating that they thought they had shot down an enemy aircraft, it was only
later that this was found to be incorrect and the truth of what had happened been discovered. Thankfully this kind of incident
was not common, I believe it to be unique to the North of England with regard the aircraft type. The airmen killed were :
Pilot - Sgt Marcel Alec Fussell RAFVR, aged 20, of Dorchester, buried Dorchester, Dorset.
AG - Sgt George John Warren RAFVR, aged 19, of Dagenham, Essex. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
BA - Sgt Sydney Stewart McLean RNZAF, aged 29, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
FEng - Sgt Jack Worsnop RAF, aged 23, of Bradford. Buried Bradford, Yorkshire.
NAV - Sgt Monte Alan Gray McIntyre RNZAF, aged 29, of Gisborne, Auckland, New Zealand. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
WOp/AG -Sgt Michael James O'Malley RNZAF, aged 21, of Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Rear Gunner - Sgt Gregory Manuel Georges RCAF, aged ? of Whitman, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Buried Thornaby on Tees Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Monte McIntyre and his headstone at Thornaby Cemetery. (Photo and additional information kindly provied by Mr Ben Poynter, of
Napier, New Zealand). Monte’s parents and Mr Poynter's parents were great friends. In 1918 at the end of WW1 New Zealand (like the UK)
had a
flu epidemic with quite a loss of life including Monte’s mother. He was then about five and an only child it would have
been difficult for his father to bring him up so he lived with Mr Poynters grandparents, who were dairy farmers in Gisborne. They
already had a son and five daughters so one more was no problem for them. The 1930’s depression was a tough time for him, with
very little employment. For a time he lived with Mr Poynter's parents on a dairy farm in Waihi, but for no wages, just his keep.
When he joined the RNZAF in July 1940 his occupation was given as “Medical Attendant, Seaview Mental Hospital, Hokitika".
He started training as a pilot but obviously didn’t make it and was remustered as an Air Observer. Mr Poynter's memory of him
was when
he stayed with us on final leave, he was about six and half years old at the time and he helped him understand early
arithmetic which he was struggling with at the time. He left New Zealand for Canada in July 1941 and on to England in
February 1942 to finish his training. (It is odd that CWGC list him as a WOp/AG, and as a result the aircraft appears
to have had no navigator, CWGC appear to have made a error in Monte's case). His service records state that ""On the night
of 17th December 1942, Sgt. Mcintyre was the Navigator of a Lancaster aircraft which took off on a minelaying operation
in the Baltic sea and crashed near Grangetown, Yorkshire. The aircraft completely disintegrated and it was difficult to
identify the crew”.
Sgt Michael O'Malley RNZAF and his gravestone.
Sgt Sydney McLean RNZAF and his gravestone.
I do not know the exact location of where the aircraft crashed as yet although if reports are correct that it crashed onto spoil heaps then it probably crashed within the area contained on this photograph.
This crew listing appears slightly different elsewhere. McIntyre is quoted as being the WOp/AG (which his headstone shows),
Warren as Nav and O'Malley as AG. McIntyre's service records have him down as navigator.
The aircraft was built by A.V. Roe Ltd at Manchester to contract B69274/40 and delivered directly to 101 Sqdn on 21st January 1942.
The AM Form 78 states it suffered Cat.E2 (Burnt) damage on the 18th Dec 1942 (but this is an error). It was SOC 23rd Dec 1942 with
Total Flying Hours 17.00.
No account of this incident would be complete without drawing the reader to Bill Norman's "Failed to Return" book in which this
incident
appears in detail. Mr Norman informs me there is to be a memorial plaque dedicated to the crew lost in this incident in late 2008/early 2009.