Halifax at Wigginton.

There is some confusion to what actually happened with regard this incident, what can be determined is that the Halifax was on a cross country training fight on the 16th of October 1942 when the pilot noticed excessive vibration in the port outer engine. The end result was that the pilot force landed the aircraft near Wigginton. Other sources quote that the offending engine caught fire prior to the crash and that the crew of eight had bailed out The aircraft crashed to the rear of the Black Horse Pub, Wiggington where it burnt out but YAM records state the aircraft crashed near Flatt Topped Farm, Wigginton, some distance away. The crash investigation found that pitch operating eyebolts in the propeller had failed, causing the vibrations. The pilot was not to blame. This was exactly the same reasons for another forced landing near Huby two months later - detailed on this website.

Other than the two pilots, four other airmen were injured and a further two escaped injury. Their names are not recorded, however, two months after this incident, Bartlett and his crew were involved in another crash following take off from Rufforth for ops to Mannheim, their aircraft crashed near Bilbrough, York. Two were killed and the remaining five injured.

The aircraft was built to contract B982938/39 by E.E.C. Ltd. at Salmesbury and delivered directly to 10 Sqdn at Leeming in March 1942. It transferred to 168 Sqdn at East Moor on 29th June 1942. It sustained Cat. E2/FA Burnt on 16th October 1942 and was written off as a result.

Pilot - Sgt J Bartlett RNZAF, ok

Instructor Pilot (?) - P/O Philip R Burt RAF, injured.

Assumed crew members:

? - Sgt J Thorogood RAF.

Nav / Bomber - Sgt Lawrence E W Jackson RAFVR. (Killed 6 Dec 1942, aged 20, buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, described above).

? - Sgt I W McLauchlan RAF.

? - Sgt J Battey RAF. (Became a PoW later in the War when his Halifax was shot down over Berlin on 23 Aug 1943, he was held at Camp 4B).

AG - Sgt Peter T Wallis RAFVR. (Killed 6 Dec 1942, aged 19, of Wimbledon, buried Wimbledon, described above).

AG - Sgt B A Miller RAF. (He is listed on the RAF Commands website as becaming a PoW later in the War, but his name is not listed in the book 'Footprints on the Sands of time' by Oliver Clutton-Brock. Whether this is the same man and he indeed was a PoW needs more researching.