ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 159898
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| Date: | Friday 2 February 1945 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Hawker Hurricane Mk IIC |
| Owner/operator: | 11 (P) AFU RAF |
| Registration: | PG472 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Whimberry Hill, Belmont, near Bolton, Lancashire. -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Calverley, Cheshire |
Haekr Hurricane Mk.IIc PG472 of 11 (P) AFU, written off (destroyed) 2 February 1945. Collided with Hurricane PZ848 in formation & crashed on the 975-foot Whimberry Hill in the Smithills area near Bolton, Lancashire. Pilot - Flight Sgt Thomas Stanley Taylor, Service Number 1622146, aged 21 - was killed.
The evidence found by the investigation teams suggests that PG472 hit the ground upside down, exploding on impact and creating the crater I had found. Fire consumed the plane and pilot and little was left to recover at the time, apart from the engine and remains of the pilot.
According to published reports (see link #4):
"February 2nd, 1945. Two 21 year old Hurricane pilots with orders to undertake flying exercises within the vicinity of their base at RAF Calverley in Cheshire, immediately flew North in formation. 20 minutes later, Flight Sergeant Thomas Stanley Taylor and Warrant Officer Norman Thomas Huckle crashed into each other at about 6,000 feet in cloud and dived to the ground north of Bolton in Lancashire. Both men were killed. Warrant Officer Huckle’s Hurricane came down close by, at Horrocks Fold Farm.
A factory worker later responded to a newspaper appeal for information, and said that a colleague of hers had been engaged to one of the pilots, and they were going to give the factory girls an unauthorised air display, but alas the aircraft never arrived."
There are some remains still at the crash site, even after the Lancashire Aircraft Investigation team excavated the site in 2010.
Sources:
1. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
2. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/pennines/hawker-hurricane-pg472-whimberry-hill/
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2413296/taylor,-thomas-stanley/
4. http://aircrashsites.co.uk/air-crash-sites-5/hurricane-pg472-near-bolton-lancs-2/
5. https://militaryaircraftcrashsites.blogspot.com/2014/02/hawker-hurricane-pg472.html
6. https://antondotreks.com/2013/01/07/wwii-hurricane-crash-site-on-winter-hill/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 02-Sep-2013 02:18 | JINX | Added |
| 13-Apr-2015 13:46 | Mihulka33 | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location] |
| 25-May-2019 00:37 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
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