ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 146472
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| Date: | Sunday 29 August 1943 |
| Time: | 15:00 |
| Type: | Airspeed Oxford Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 427 (Lion) Sqn RCAF |
| Registration: | DF471 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Great Coum, 3 miles south of Dent, North Yorkshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire |
| RAF Ford, Littlehampton, West Sussex |
On the 27th August 1943 a number of Halifax aircraft from No.427 Squadron took part in a raid against Nurnberg. Among them was Halifax Mk.V DK234; about 5 minutes after releasing its bomb load of 1 two thousand pound bomb and 392 incendiaries it was hit by ground fire. This disabled its port outer engine and lead to the loss of some fuel. On their return to the UK the crew of Halifax DK234 decided they would probably not safely reach RAF Leeming and so landed at RAF Ford near Littlehampton in West Sussex.
Two days after this, on the 29th August 1943, one of the Squadron’s pilots was detailed to fly their Airspeed Oxford to RAF Ford with three engine fitters as passengers so that they could repair the damaged Halifax, thereby allowing it to then be returned to Leeming. The Oxford took off from Leeming and headed west.
At around 15.00 hours, just under two hours into the flight, while flying in poor weather, and without a navigator on board, the Oxford crashed into a hillside three miles south of Dent. The crash site was on the very edge of Yorkshire, with the boundary with Cumberland running along the summit ridge between Gragareth and Great Coum.
Three of the crew had almost certainly died in the impact but in his book "Hell on High Ground 2", David Earl reported that the pilot was found at least 600 yards from the crash site suggesting that he had tried to go for help but his injuries had got the better of him.
Looking at flying times it would not take two hours to fly directly from Leeming to Dent so there is some question as to how far the aircraft had got before turning around, possibly because of poorer weather further south. In other words, the Oxford could have crashed whilst attempting to return to RAF Leeming, having abandoned its attempt to reach RAF Ford.
Crew of Oxford DF471:
Robert Lloyd Henry, Sergeant RCAF (Pilot) - Killed
William Phillip Holt, Corporal RCAF (Passenger) - Killed
James Edmond Keighan, Corporal RCAF (Passenger) - Killed
Dennis William Davies, Leading Aircraftman RCAF (Passenger) - Killed
The four occupants of the aircraft were buried on the 3rd September 1943 at Stonefall Cemetery in Harrogate. Little remains where the aircraft crashed, as with other Oxfords, it consists of parts from the undercarriage and wooden spars with attached stainless steel plates. Lower down the hill in a sink hole are a number of panels from the aircraft which had been weighed down with rocks.
Sources:
1. http://www.rwrwalker.ca/RAF_owned_BP100.html
2. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.baaa-acro.com/1943/archives/crash-of-an-airspeed-as-10-oxford-i-near-dent-4-killed/]
3. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/pennines/airspeed-oxford-df471-great-coum/
4. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/dales/df471.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 24-Jun-2012 13:47 | Nepa | Added |
| 05-Aug-2017 23:46 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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