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9 Squadron RAF (Per noctum volamus) RAF Waddington. After completing a successful bombing operation against targets in Hamburg, Germany, Lancaster III aircraft ED 481 WS-N returned over Lincolnshire to poor weather conditions. The bomber was diverted to Leeming airfield in Yorkshire but due to worsening weather conditions the crew became lost while continuing to fly searching for a suitable landing site. Eventually, as fuel reserves became critical despite feathering of three of the four engines, the aircraft lost altitude only to discover they were too low to safely bail out. Unable to see the ground but out of time and options, the landing gear was lowered in an attempt to put the bomber down on the North Yorkshire Moors. Sadly, the aircraft instead flew into the high ground at Hawnby Hill resulting in the loss of the entire crew
Warrant Officer Second Class Frank Goheen Nelson (RCAF)(USA), Sergeant McKeen Allan (RCAF), Sergeant George Francis Done (RAFVR), Sergeant Alan Arthur Frederick Williams (RAFVR), Sergeant Henry Summers Jones (RAFVR), Sergeant Arthur William Butcher (RAFVR) and Sergeant Walter George Murton (RAFVR)(South Africa) were all killed in action
The crew were all buried in cemeteries in the United Kingdom
Bombers First and Last by Gordon Thorburn, pages 118, 376-7
Lancaster Mk1 ED481 Hawnby Hill Hawnby - Peak District Air Accident...
