Date:	Tuesday 21 December 1948
Time:	23:59
Type:	Avro Lancaster B Mk VII FE
Owner/operator:	230 OCU RAF
Registration:	PA411
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Rhodes Hill, Tintwistle Knarr, 3 km from Tintwistle, Derbyshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Lindholme, Hatfield Woodhouse, South Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Lindholme, South Yorkshire

Narrative:
Avro Lancaster B.1 PA411, 230 OCU RAF: Written off (destroyed) 21-12-48 when crashed at night at Rhodes Hill, Tintwistle Knarr, 3 km from Tintwistle, Derbyshire. All seven crew on board killed.

Whilst on a night training flight, passed low over the village of Tintwistle before crashing into Tintwistle Knarr. Report considered loss of position/orientation due to low heavy cloud to be contributing factor. All seven crew members were lost:
Crew of Lancaster PA411:
F/Sgt Jack Sherwood THOMPSON (Pilot) RAF Killed
F/Lt Peter Maurice MASKELL (Navigator) RAF Killed
F/Sgt Robert SMITH (Signaller) RAF Killed
F/Sgt Vincent GRAHAM (Flt Engineer) RAF Killed
Sgt William Allen LOVE (Signaller) RAF Killed
F/Lt Thomas Iowerth JOHNSON (Instructor) RAF Killed
F/Sgt David William Henry HARRIS (Instructor) RAF Killed

One of the crewmen had survived the crash and was found alive by the first local residents to reach the crash site but he died shortly afterwards, quote:

"The first crew member they came across was the person whose post was Tail-End Charlie" (tail gunner's turret) "on this training operation. It is assumed that this was Sergeant William Allen Love who was a signaller. He preferred to be called Allen rather than William. Sgt. Love was still alive when the would-be rescuers arrived. He was to die in the arms of Mr Bagshaw. Sgt Love's watch had stopped at 10 seconds to midnight which must indicate the exact moment the Lancaster slammed into the moor.

The Lancaster came down close to the crash sites of P-38J 42-67207 (crashed 10 May 1944) and 3 RAF Hurricanes (PZ851, PZ854 and PZ765, which collided and crashed on 22 Feb 1945)

The subsequent Board of Inquiry attributed the cause of the accident to a CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) caused by pilot error. The pilot did not realise that he was west of his base, and was flying over high ground, while he believed that he was further to the east of where he actually was. The ground to the east was lower and flatter.

Three of the crew (Sgt Love, Flt Lt Maskell, and Flt Sgt Robert Smith) were all buried in the same Cemetery: Rose Hill Cemetery, Cantley, Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The pilot - Jack Thompson was buried at the Northern Cemetery, Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England

According to reports from various hill walking forums, several pieces of the wreckage of Lancaster PA411 were still present at the crash site as recently as April 2022

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.457-458
3. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
4. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/400748
5. http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/peak-district/avro-lancaster-pa411-tintwhistle-knarr/
6. https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/longdendale-valley-avro-lancaster-bomber-crash-site-08-05-2011.67180/
7. https://aircrashsites.co.uk/post-war-crash-sites/dsc_0128-2/
8. https://militaryaircraftcrashsites.blogspot.com/p/peak-district.html
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._230_Operational_Conversion_Unit_RAF
10. https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/1028565?page=1#sr-194946203
11. http://www.wtdwhd.co.uk/peak%20district/Tintwhistle%20Knarr.html
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintwistle

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
19-Oct-2009 04:11	Tootles	Added
21-May-2010 11:46	TB	Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Operator, Other fatalities, Source]
21-May-2010 13:12	TB	Updated [Aircraft type]
18-Aug-2013 03:04	JINX	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
20-Oct-2014 07:15	Barry L	Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative]
01-Jan-2015 18:59	Dr. John Smih	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative]
01-Jan-2015 19:03	Dr. John Smih	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative]
12-Nov-2018 21:22	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Narrative, Operator]