Date:	Friday 10 May 1946
Time:
Type:	Handley Page Halifax Mk VII
Owner/operator:	1665 HCCU RAF
Registration:	PP349
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Tancred Farm, Whixley, 2.5 miles SW of RAF Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire (EGXU)
Destination airport:	RAF Linton-on-Ouse (EGXU)

Narrative:
Handley Page Halifax PP349: Written off (destroyed) 10 May 1946. Shortly after takeoff from RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire, while in initial climb, the crew informed ground that a fire erupted on board and elected to return for an emergency landing back at base. During a last turn to the left, the aircraft went out of control, into a spiral dive from which it did not recover, lost height and crashed in a huge explosion in a field on the Tancred Estate, between Whixley and Linton on Ouse, located 2 1/2 miles southwest of the airfield. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew:
S/Ldr (65989) Kenneth Searby Stammers DFC AFC DFM (pilot) RAF - killed
W/O (1076904) David Robert Jones (WOp) RAFVR - killed
F/O (176669) William Ian Harvey, (Flt/Eng) RAFVR - killed
F/Sgt Sonny Fox (1893152) RAFVR - killed
LAC John Charles Simpson (1530898) RAF - killed
LAC Glyndwr Pritchard (1653762) RAF - killed
LAC Hampton Sharling (1500420) RAF - killed

LAC Hampton Sharling was also known as "George Sharling", and it is under this name that he is commemorated at the RAF Memorial at St. Clements Danes Chruch, London. The CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission), however, record him as "Hampton Sharling" as per the above.

The Accident report form - Air Ministry Form 1180 - (see link #6) gives the exact location of the crash as "300 [feet] North of Tancred Farm, Whixley". The accident was briefly reported in the Yorkshire Evening Post of Friday May 10th, 1946 (see link #4):

"Bomber Crash in Yorkshire.
A Royal Airforce Bomber crashed on the Tancred Estate, between Whixley & Linton on Ouse, this afternoon. Fire brigades were summoned from Harrogate, Wetherby & Boroughbridge."

The Yorkshire Post' of Saturday May 11th 1946 carried a major front-page article with a photo of the crash scene and eye-witness reports from two farmers.

Whixley is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is near the A1(M) motorway and 10 miles (16 km) west of York.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.41. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain)
3. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.140
4. Yorkshire Evening Post of Friday May 10th, 1946 and Saturday May 11th, 1946
5. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-handley-page-hp63-halifax-vii-raf-linton-ouse-7-killed
6. https://flighteng.org/stories/205-a-force-family
7. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.99: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
8. 1665 HCU RAF ORB for the period 1-5-1943 to 30-6-1946: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/614/1: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7160915
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2457175/harvey,-william-ian/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2624161/stammers,-kenneth-searby/
11. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2721536/fox,-sonny/
12. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2703173/simpson,-john-charles/
13. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2717600/pritchard,-glyndwr/
14. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2698338/sharling,-hampton/
15. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2957789/david-robert-jones/
16. http://www.grewelthorpe.org.uk/History/ww2-bombers-crash-in-area
17. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/28/W2346: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578192
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whixley

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
24-Sep-2013 02:07	JINX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Source, Narrative]
12-Mar-2017 02:26	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
02-Nov-2018 18:50	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
27-Oct-2019 17:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
27-Oct-2019 18:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
27-Oct-2019 18:25	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
21-Nov-2019 23:36	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
17-Jul-2021 17:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative, Category]
17-Jul-2021 17:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
17-Jul-2021 17:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
17-Jul-2021 20:36	Siczak	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]
18-Jul-2021 13:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
18-Aug-2022 09:39	Paul Allonby	Updated [Narrative]
27-Jun-2023 21:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Narrative]]
28-Jun-2023 20:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[[Narrative]]]
11-Nov-2023 10:58	Nepa	Updated [Time, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator]