Halifax possibly in the Flixton area.
There are two recorded Halifax's crashing in the Flixton area, both from the same 434 Sqdn and both with a couple of weeks of one another.
It could be that this incident recorded here is an error and should be removed from this section of the website. It is left here for now in the hope that
someone can clarify the location where the aircraft came down.
On the 20th of January 1944 the crew of this aircraft took off from Croft at 16.25hrs to bomb Berlin. Just as the aircaft was releasing its
load of incendiaries at 19,000ft the aircraft was hit twice by flak.
The first struck towards the rear of the bomb bay and the second hit the fuselage near the wing root. The resulting damage was severe.
Rudder control was sheared off, there was no oxygen supply or electrics from the rest position backwards, all the aircrafts aerials were missing, the D.R. master unit
had been destroyed. The aircaft stayed in the air, the remainder of the bomb load was jettisoned although a number of remaining incendiaries
set fire in the bomb bay and filled the cockpit with smoke. The pilot made for home using only aileron controls. The engines had not been damaged and there
was no problem to the speed or height being lost. As the aircraft reached the British shoreline the intercom between the pilot and the wireless
operator failed. Soon after crossing
the coast and with the pilot loosing control they abandoned the aircraft somewhere in the Driffield area. There is a suggestion that
the aircraft continued on its own way for a period before crashing somewhere in the Flixton area to the west of Filey at 23.59hrs.
The pilot sustained head injuries, and the bomb aimer and rear gunner both sustained head and leg injuries, probably on landing heavily.
The aircraft was built to Contract ACFT/891/ by Fairey Aviation Ltd at Stockport and delivered directly to 427 Sqdn
at Leeming in late September 1943. It was transferred to 429 Sqdn at Leeming in November 1943 when the unit re-equipped
with B.V's, having previously flown B.II's. It transferred to 434 Sqdn at Croft in December 1943. Following the incident detailed above (where-ever its exact location)
Cat. E2/FB Burnt damage was recorded.
Pilot - F/Sgt F W Johnson RCAF (R/148521). Injured.
FEng - Sgt S G Phillips RAF (1314422?)
Nav - P/O Robert W (Bob) Davis RCAF (J/20968), of Verdun, Quebec, Canada.
BA - Sgt J D Campbell RCAF (R/154869). Injured.
WOp/AG - Sgt A Hession RAF (1503980?)
MUG - Sgt W G Whitton RCAF (R/191709)
RG - Sgt D M Tofflemire RCAF (R/187609). Injured.
434 Sqdn historian Mr Alan Soderstrom has kindly supplied me with further information regarding the enemy action. The above photograph is taken from his website and
shows F/O Bob Davis RCAF.
The exact location of the crash site is not known and the "Flixton" quotes comes from W R Chorley's Bomber Command Losses Book.
This currently being the only source which
lists the aircraft as crashing in the Flixton area, others quote either Driffield or the nearby
village of Nafferton as the crash location. Can anyone help !
