Date:	Sunday 24 January 1943
Time:	15:10
Type:	Avro Manchester Mk I
Owner/operator:	1654 CU RAF
Registration:	L7457
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 8
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Saxilby, Lincolnshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Wigsley, Nottinghamshire
Destination airport:	RAF Wigsley

Narrative:
In early January 1943, Sgt Jack Lazenby, having just finished his flying engineer training at St Athan station, arrived at Wigsley, near Saxilby, the base of 1654 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF. Wigsley was where five men crews that had trained on Wellingtons picked up a mid upper gunner and a Flight Engineer and then converted to Lancasters before going to an operational bomber squadron.

Some days later, Lazenby became part of a crew:
Sgt Jack Russell RCAF (pilot, from Long Island, New York)
Sgt Richard Wright RCAF (navigator, from Chicago)
Sgt Nick Golden (bomb aimer, from Gloucester)
Sgt John Dow (wireless operator, from Kilmarnock)
Sgt Jack Lazenby (flight engineer, from Ockley, Surrey)
Sgt Wally Bark (mid upper gunner, from Anfield, Liverpool)
Sgt Ron Marston (rear gunner, from Holborn, London)

Jack Russell and Dick Wright had joined the Canadian Air Force and teamed up. After training in Canada they had come to Britain to continue their training on Wellington bombers on an OTU and had crewed up with Nick Golden, John Dow and Ron Marston, and they had done a fair amount of flying training together.

At Wigsley, crews would commence flying in Manchester twin engined bombers whose 24 cylinder Vulture engines were somewhat unreliable. After about fifteen or twenty hours on Manchesters the pilot and crew would then convert to Lancasters. All aircraft at Wigsley were dual controlled, and you commenced flying with a pilot instructor which was takeoffs, circuits and landings.

On the afternoon of Sunday 24th January 1943 the crew commenced flying in the Manchester I L7457 with Pilot Instructor Flt Sgt Taylor. They did two take offs, circuits and landings and after the third take off at 1458 hrs the port engine cut and, according to some sources, caught fire. The propeller would not feather which created considerable drag, and unable to make the airfield they did a belly landing at 1510 hrs in a meadow at West Bank near the village of Saxilby, went through a hedge and ended up in a ploughed field. After coming to rest they all left the aircraft at speed and no one received a scratch. As they stood by the hedge they had come through the aircraft started to slowly burn. They then saw a man running across the field towards the crashed aircraft and shouted that there was no one in it. Another old man then came across the field pushing a rusty old bicycle. He was wearing a tin hat on which were the letters AFS — Auxiliary Fire Service. As they stood by the hedge watching the aircraft burn, several people of all ages from Saxilby came on the scene. The crew then saw a man in a blue overall approaching along the edge of the field and he had with him a jug of tea and cups in a wicker shopping basket. An ambulance and a fire engine from Wigsley then arrived and a large tank of foam was sprayed on the burning aircraft which damped it down.

After the crew had seen off the tea, the man who had provided it persuasively invited them to his house for something to eat, so they all piled into the ambulance and went to the house which was only a short distance away. The crew followed the man into the house leaving a trail of mud. They were then led into a large farmhouse type kitchen in which there was a long rough table, and although there was rationing they were served ham and eggs and fussed over by several young women, presumably the man’s daughters. Across the ceiling of the kitchen was a large beam from which was hanging several hams. The pilot instructor then said that they must get back to Wigsley in case the ambulance was wanted, and so they made a rather rapid departure. When they arrived back at Wigsley they were all given a medical check up by a medical officer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/69/a7798369.shtml
http://www.bcar.org.uk/1943-incident-logs
[LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.baaa-acro.com/1943/archives/crash-of-an-avro-679-manchester-in-united-kingdom-9/]
“Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses volume 8. Heavy Conversion Units and Miscellaneous Units 1939-1947’’, by W R Chorley, ISBN 1-85780-156-3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxilby
https://www.streetcheck.co.uk/postcode/ln12l

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
14-Jun-2008 20:26	JINX	Added
27-Jan-2012 12:45	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Source]
06-Aug-2013 05:04	JINX	Updated [Operator, Source]
09-Jun-2015 17:46	Angel dick one	Updated [Operator]
24-Jan-2016 15:14	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]