ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 230247
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| Date: | Monday 2 October 1944 |
| Time: | 01:50 |
| Type: |  Handley Page Halifax Mk II |
| Owner/operator: | 1664 HCU RAF |
| Registration: | JP204 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 8 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Plover Hill Farm, mile W of Galphay, Grewelthorpe, Yorkshire, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Dishforth, North Yorkshire |
| RAF Dishforth |
After taking off the course for the navigation part of the flight was to fly to Bristol, initially climbing to 18,000 feet, decending to 15,000 feet to make a simulated attack on Bristol before heading back towards base of Dishforth at between 12,000 and later as low as 5,000 feet. As they arrived in the Dishforth area they made contact with their base and received an instruction to then carry out a practice bombing exercise on a bombing range near the village of Snape (between Leeming and Masham). After releasing their practice bombs one of the flight engineers noticed that the port outer engine had lost oil pressure. As the engine temperature gauge was reading normal it was initially assumed that the oil pressure gauge was perhaps faulty. As a result the propeller was not feathered immediately and the engine continued to run with no oil until it overheated and disintergrated internally. The engine then caught fire. During the break up of the engine some of the con-rods broke out of the side of the crank case and severed the connecting lines to the feathering switch in the cockpit. Being then unable to feather the damaged engine and being an inexperienced pilot controlling the aircraft became difficult. By the time the order to bale out was given the aircraft had lost too much height and it was already out of control. Four members of the crew left the aircraft at around 1,000 feet above the ground but by this stage the aircraft was flying very fast and was already in sixty degree dive with the port wing being banked towards the ground. Three of the four who baled out landed safely but the fourth member who baled out was killed when his parachute did not open in time, his body was later found only 100 metres from the crash site of the aircraft. At 01:55hrs the aircraft dived into a field near Galphay at high speed and exploded, and the other four members of the crew who had not baled out were killed in the crash.
The five below were killed and were buried at Stonefall Cemetery, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
F/O Maurice Jack Hamblin. (Pilot) J/35894 RCAF
Sgt Gorden Farrell Cummings. (Flt Eng) 199090 RAFVR
F/Sgt Roy Smith (Bomb Aimer) R/167419 RCAF
P/O Clyde John Hogan. (WOp/AG) J/88327 RCAF
F/Sgt Earl William Reid (Air Gunner) R/183902 RCAF
The three below were uninjured and survived:
F/O G.C. Kroft. (Nav.) J/38778. RCAF
Sgt D. Pearson (Flt Eng) 756746. RAFVR
Sgt J.W. Thompson (Air Gunner) R/254732. RCAF
Sources:
1. http://www.grewelthorpe.org.uk/History/ww2-bombers-crash-in-area
2. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2623681/hamblin,-maurice-jack/
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2623520/cumming,-gordon-farrell/
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2624145/smith,-roy/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2624059/reid,-earl-william/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2623723/hogan,-clyde-john/
7. Personnel records of the killed from DND/Archives Canada
8. https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/york44/jp204.html
9. https://aircrewremembered.com/ParadieArchiveDatabase/?q=jp204&qand=&exc1=&exc2=&search_only=&search_type=exact
10. https://aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=jp204&qand=&exc1=&exc2=&search_only=&search_type=exact
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Oct-2019 18:48 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 01-Nov-2019 16:03 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 14-Aug-2021 00:51 | tachel | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 14-Aug-2021 00:52 | tachel | Updated [Narrative] |
| 10-Nov-2023 18:50 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator] |
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