Halifax near Flaxton.

At a quarter to ten in the morning on the 16th of March 1944 this aircraft took off for a local flying exercise and for bombing practice on Strensall Range, York. Some half an hour later the aircraft was near the range and descending through a thin layer of cloud at 400ft. The aircraft then entered a turn to port and the port wing hit the ground, the aircraft crashed and disintergrated at 10.12hrs. All on board were almost certainly killed on impact, the wreckage caught fire. The reason for the crash was never fully understood, it was suggested that the aircraft exploded just prior to striking the ground. The crash report is very hard to read as the ink appears to have faded over the years. RAF East Moor's crash crew attended the crash on farmland near Black Averham Farm, Flaxton.

The aircraft was built to Contract ACFT/637/C4/C by Rootes Securities Ltd at Speke and awaiting collection in November 1942. It was delivered to MU store and not issued until 10th May 1943 when 1664 HCU formed at Croft. It moved with unit to Dishforth on 7th December 1943. It sustained Cat. E2/FA Burnt damage in the incident on 16th March 1944 near Flaxton.

Pilot - P/O Francis R Dionne RCAF (J/89044), aged 29, of Riviere du Loup, Province of Quebec, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.

FEng - Sgt John A Lang RAFVR (1823515), aged 19, of ? Buried Dumbarton Cemetery, Scotland.

Nav - F/Sgt Romeo A Pelletier RCAF (J/94603), aged 20, of Loretteville, Province of Quebec, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.

AB - F/O Robert A Walld RCAF (J/27582), aged 20, of Bluff Creek, Manitoba, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.

WOp / AG - WO1 Alphonse J P Normandeau RCAF (R/110699), aged 24, of Saint Boniface, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.

AG - Sgt Joseph L P D Carrier RCAF (R/176860), aged 27, of Rumford, Me, USA. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. He was an American serving in the RCAF, CWGC do not state this however.

RG - Sgt Joseph J O Cournoyer RCAF (R/66744), aged 29, of L'Assomption, Lachenaie Co., Province of Quebec, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. Husband of Hermine F. Cournoyer.

The pilots headstone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. He had a total of 230 hours flying at the time of the crash, sadly inexperience may have played a part in the crash, of these hours only 4 hours were on the Halifax type. He would also seem to have lost a cousin as a result of War Operations; Pte Roger Dionne, Royal 22e Reg RCIC was killed on 2nd September 1944, his parents lived in Riviere di Loop.

There is a strong possibility that WO1 Normandeau lost a brother, Sgt Paul Emery Normandeau (R/205216) was killed whilst serving in the RCAF on 20th August 1944 and is buried in Brookwood Cemetery, England. His death resulted from an unfortunate accident when he fell through a skylight in London.

The location of this crash site may be confused with that of Halifax JN953 however for the purposes of recording the crash site on this website and because local memory has the fatal crash (this one, DG295) as being on land used by Sandburn Hall. (There is a suspect hole in a field near where a police map reference puts DG295 to have gone down, this location is yet to be investigated as the landowner has not yet been asked).

The aircraft clipped these two trees in the centre of this photograph and would then crash where the 16th green of Sandburn Hall Golf Course would later be created. This is one site where no proper investigations will be carried out because of the nature of how the land is in use today. My thanks to Mr Mick Leeming for his input into the ongoing research on this incident and for fixing up my visit in May 2008. My thanks to Mr James Hogg for allowing it and to the staff in the golf shop for their directions to the site. Please note that this aircraft crash site is on private land.