ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 173143
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| Date: | Tuesday 9 October 1945 |
| Time: | 01:34 |
| Type: |  Short Stirling Mk IV |
| Owner/operator: | 1665 HCU RAF |
| Registration: | LJ622 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Marston Road, Tockwith, near York, North Yorkshire, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Marston Moor, North Yorkshire |
| RAF Marston Moor, North Yorkshire |
Short Stirling Mk.IV LJ622, 1665 HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit) RAF: Written off (destroyed) when crashed at Tockwith, near York, North Yorkshire. A detailed account of the accident is on the parish council website:
"At 1.34am Tuesday 9th 1945 October the tranquil street scene of Marston Road Tockwith was changed beyond recognition. A Stirling Bomber about to land on the nearby Marston Moor Airfield crashed in the main street killing the village postmaster, the six crew members and wrecking nineteen houses. There was a trail of damage stretching from the then Post Office to Ralph Garth.
There have been all sorts of theories as to why the plane crashed in the Main Street. There was apparently only one witness to the crash Miss Bradley who lived in the thatched Cromwell House. She was in bed and saw the moving mass of flames but could not get out of the house in time. The cottage caught fire and Mrs Bradley had to be rescued.
Arthur William Carlill. Postmaster, shoemaker and church organist was sleeping in the attic room. He did not normally sleep in this room and the family were in different rooms to air the beds for the expected home coming of their only son Barry who was in the RAF. The funeral was held on 12th October and there was a large attendance of villagers.
Unfortunately Barry was unable to make his way back from the Middle East where he was serving. This had a profound affect on Barry for the rest of his life. Barry never changed the frontage of the shop after the crash and it was not updated until after his death only a few years ago.
There is even a sad personal tale about one of the crew, Wireless Operator Sgt Albert Bonass was to have been a guest player with York City football team on the 14th October. His home was in York. A former member of York City football club Sgt Bonass later went to Hartlepool United and then to Chesterfield. He began his football career with Dringhouses, York.
One of the houses reduced in a flash to jagged pieces of wall was the Police House. The occupant was PC Harry Sagar. He and his wife and daughter Ruth who incidentally still lives in the village escaped injury but were left in nothing but their night clothes. Constable Sagar had no uniform but nothing daunted and with fires raging at intervals the whole length of the east end of the village without waiting to be given anything to cover his pyjamas, took charge of the grim situation.
The village grocer William Todd who also had his shop badly damaged said at the time, “Tockwith looks like an old shelled French village in the last war and the plane is strewn in pieces all along the main street. It crashed on top of the street and it’s blazing wreckage ploughed its way along the row of shops and houses”.
It is difficult to imagine just how much the everyday business of the village was disrupted. There is no doubting that were the same thing to happen today all the might of the media would descend on the village. The two pubs would be full and people would come from all around to take a look.
The national papers did give the 1945 crash a fleeting mention but no way did they give it major prominence. It was almost as though it was some back water in the wilds of Yorkshire. This rather matter of fact approach symptomatic of the times may well be the reason why there is no memorial dedicated to those who died. A question of ‘keep calm and carry on.’
The crash severed a water main and people had to draw water from a pump in the garden of The White Cottage which was the home of Mrs George Bishop who had been evacuated from London during the blitz four years earlier. She said at the time.” I never thought I would have the blitz all over again. I went through some of the bombing in London but this was as bad an experience in its way as I ever remember.”
Telephone lines were also cut. The Air Ministry set up a headquarters in the main street to deal with the claims for damaged property and loss of personal belongings. Awards for bravery displayed after the crash were later presented to a number of people, including the village policeman Police Constable Harry Sagar, Company Officer Leslie Matthews of Wetherby, and Leading Fireman John Utley also of Wetherby. Mr Matthews and Utley received the British Empire Medal and PC Sagar received the Kings Commendation for Brave Conduct:
“Company Officer Matthews and Leading Fireman Utley mounted a ladder and although the bedroom was blazing inferno without the slightest hesitation they entered the building” said the citation. “Utley located the occupant who was partially covered by debris; she was released and passed to Matthews who carried her to safety. Utley was so exhausted that he had to be assisted down the ladder. Both men displayed exceptional bravery”
PC Sargar’s award was for his bravery in dealing with the consequences of the crash.
The Stirling bomber was returning to Marston Moor having been engaged in a cross country flight. The Stirling Serial No LJ622 was built by Short Brothers. The Bomber was crewed by:
Pilot - Pilot Officer Sydney Harold Bunting, RAFVR 172231, age 22
Engineer - Sergeant Raymond Victor Viall, RAFVR 1629417, age 21
Navigator - Sergeant Ronald Alec Alexander, RAFVR 1851215, age 21
Bomb-Aimer - Flying Officer Kenneth Herbert Griffiths, RAFVR 164899, age 22
Wireless Op. - Sergeant Albert Edward Bonass, RAFVR 1898979, age 34
Air Gunner - Flying Officer John Cantle-Jones, RAFVR 184201, aged 31
The aircraft crashed in Marston Road flying West to East and initially demolished the Post Office and the Police House. It then bounced over the Chapel and Northfield House and into Swires grocery shop and adjacent buildings. It then bounced again over Melbourne Stores and hit Cromwell Cottage and Nicholson’s butchers shop. The post master Arthur Carlill who had been sleeping in the attic room at the Post Office was killed as was the entire crew.
The street scene of the village changed forever. One of the oldest houses in the village which was thatched and reputed to have been the house where Oliver Cromwell had a wound dressed during the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644 was destroyed.
An inquest was held by the H.M. Coroner because a civilian had been killed and evidence was given by Squadron Leader Kenneth Stammers, who was the officer in charge of night flying on the night in question. Flying Officer Bunting was an experienced pilot and the flight was the last of his training programme for that particular type of work. The aircraft reported at 1.18am that all was well. There was no possibility of the pilot mistaking his route as had been widely reported before the inquest.
Permission was not given to land, but to make a circuit of the airfield. The pilot should not have come in low over the village. The subsequent Air Ministry board of enquiry found that the aircraft had stalled at 2,000 ft during a turn to port in bad visibility."
Sources:
1. http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/NEWS/11736120.Village_set_to_honour_victims_of_Second_World_War_plane_crash/?ref=rss
2. http://aircrewremembered.com/bunting-sydney.html
3. http://www.tockwith.gov.uk/Tockwith-Wilstrop-Parish-Council/UserFiles/Files/Forthcoming%20Events%20and%20Information/TWPC%20Press%20release%20re%20monument.pdf
4. http://qprreport.proboards.com/post/395834
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2361111/bunting,-sydney-harold/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2824172/viall,-raymond-victor/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2691193/alexander,-ronald-alec/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2432789/griffiths,-herbert-kenneth/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2623389/bonass,-albert-edward/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2623440/cantle-jones,-john/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 20-Jan-2015 18:13 | gerard57 | Added |
| 18-Oct-2019 20:48 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 18-Oct-2019 20:50 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 18-Oct-2019 20:51 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 18-Oct-2019 20:52 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 18-Oct-2019 21:02 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 26-Oct-2019 19:53 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 01-Nov-2019 16:04 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 11-Nov-2023 10:49 | Nepa | Updated [Location, Operator] |
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