Halifax near Cawton.
On the night of 7th/8th June 1944 the crew of this aircraft set out from Wombleton at 22.14hrs to undertake a Bulleye training flight.
It is believed they carried out the exercise, such exercises usually involved navigating to a UK city and practicing a bombing run there,
it would also benifit ground units who would test themselves. The weather over Ryedale was by now described as being "bad, with low cloud".
It is thought that they were making for home when an engine failed and then caught fire, the fire is then believed to have spread.
At just before 04.00hrs, control was already lost and the aircraft descended through the cloud, it crashed inverted into
rising ground south of Cawton and caught fire. All seven airmen stood no chance, they sadly lost their lives in the impact.
The aircraft was built to contract ACFT/1808/C4/C by E.E.C. Ltd at Salmesbury and delivered directly to 429 Sqdn
at Leeming in mid September 1943. The unit converted to Halifax MkV's in November 1943 so the aircraft
was transferred to 428 Sqdn at Middleton St.George. On an as yet unspecified date in early 1944 it transferred to 419 Sqdn
at Middleton St.George but this was short lived, the unit was converting to Lancasters in March 1944 so it
transferred to 1666 HCU at Wombleton for the training role. The aircraft was written off in the incident recorded above with
Cat. E2/FA Burnt damage.
Pilot - P/O Arthur T Gill RCAF, aged 29, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. Husband of La Ree N. Gill.
Nav - F/O William B Hawkins RCAF, aged 28, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire. Husband of Muriel Florence Hawkins.
F Eng - Sgt Richard R Norman RCAF, aged 27, of Bowden, Alberta, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Air Bomber - Sgt William W Astles RCAF, aged 23, of London, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
W Op / Air Gunner - WO1 William J Banner RCAF, aged 24, of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire, Yorkshire.
Air Gunner - P/O Rudolph F Warne RCAF, of Canada. aged 20, of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Air Gunner - F/O Thomas H Wilson RCAF, aged 19, of Parkman, Saskatchewan, Canada. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Two photographs of Sgt William W Astles and his headstone at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery. Born on 3rd March 1921, he was the son
of Charles and Grace Astles, of 72 Connaught Avenue, London, Ontario and he attended Sir Adam Beck Collegiate from 1934-1939. His father was a veteran of the Great War and Bill Astles
enlisted in the Postal Corps, where he served for three years before transferring to air crew in the RCAF and trained as an Air Gunner.
A F/O John J Astles RCAF was killed in Feb 1944. William's father lived at 72 Connaught St, London. John's father lived at
88 Connaught Ave, London. I would suggest that the two men were cousins.
Myself, Ken Reast, Dick Barton and Albert Pritchard visited the site in January 2006. It is thought that our party was the first to survey the
site. Fair remains are still to be found on the surface, this is probably due to the soil being very thin and litle appears to be
far below the surface. What we found was all
on the surface. A large preportion of broken peices of cast alluminium bare witness to the engines and undercarriage
being extensively damaged in the crash. The crash site is on private land and permission to access the site was
given by Mr Hicks to whom we are most greatful. All items we found were left on the site.
Peices of the aircraft found on the surface.
Part of the face of an altimeter.
Bill Chorley quotes Sqdn Code in his losses book as "GY-A", which is correct?
