Date & Time:
Mar 29, 1943 at 2200 LT
Type of aircraft:
Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax II
Operator:
Registration:
JB848
Flight Phase:
Takeoff (climb)
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Pocklington - Pocklington
Country:
United Kingdom
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
7
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Pocklington at 2158LT on an operation to Berlin. Two minutes later, while in initial climb, it stalled and crashed near the airbase, bursting into flames. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/Sgt William Phelps Comrie, pilot,
Sgt William J. McGrath, flight engineer,
F/O Douglas William Francis Harper, navigator,
P/O William Hugh Jenkins, bomb aimer,
Sgt Frank William Dorrington, wireless operator,
Sgt John King, air gunner,
Sgt Myles Christian Cambell Squiers, air gunner.
Crew:
F/Sgt William Phelps Comrie, pilot,
Sgt William J. McGrath, flight engineer,
F/O Douglas William Francis Harper, navigator,
P/O William Hugh Jenkins, bomb aimer,
Sgt Frank William Dorrington, wireless operator,
Sgt John King, air gunner,
Sgt Myles Christian Cambell Squiers, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Loss of control after takeoff caused by wake turbulence from a preceding airplane.
