Crash of a Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II in Catterton: 9 killed
Date & Time:
Jul 21, 1942 at 1204 LT
Operator:
Registration:
R9489
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Linton-on-Ouse - Linton-on-Ouse
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
2
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
9
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Linton-on-Ouse on an air test mission, carrying nine crew members including two army personnel who accompanied the crew for air experience. While cruising at an altitude of 1,200 feet, the pilot completed several turns left and right when control was lost. The airplane entered a dive and crashed in Catterton, bursting into flames. All nine occupants were killed.
Crew:
Sgt Thomas Craik Murray, pilot,
Sgt Arthur Thomas Wharfe, flight engineer,
Sgt Peter Mitchell Thurgood, navigator,
P/O Harry Hibbert, bomb aimer,
F/Sgt Harold Richard Giddens, wireless operator,
Sgt Stanley Allan Keen, air gunner,
W/O William Warren Craig, air gunner.
Passengers
Sjt William Henry McBurney,
Sjt Amos Roebuck.
Crew:
Sgt Thomas Craik Murray, pilot,
Sgt Arthur Thomas Wharfe, flight engineer,
Sgt Peter Mitchell Thurgood, navigator,
P/O Harry Hibbert, bomb aimer,
F/Sgt Harold Richard Giddens, wireless operator,
Sgt Stanley Allan Keen, air gunner,
W/O William Warren Craig, air gunner.
Passengers
Sjt William Henry McBurney,
Sjt Amos Roebuck.
Probable cause:
It is believed that rudder overbalance trouble was probably the cause for the control being lost, this was a common cause of early Halifax accidents until the rudder was modified. More modern accounts detailing this incident claim that one of the engines caught fire prior to the crash and that before the flames could be put out the fire spread and control of the aircraft was lost.
