York Stories

Halifax bomber crash site, Clifton, 70 years on

Lisa @YorkStories — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 21:32:02 +0000

St Joseph’s, Clifton, 8 June 2015

70 years ago, on 8 June 1945, a Halifax bomber crashed in Clifton. Here near the roundabout at the end of Kingsway North (now Burton Green). Its wing clipped the spire of St Joseph’s on one side of the roundabout and it landed on the other side of the roundabout, behind what was then a large pub/hotel called The Imperial. It had two crew on board and they were both killed in the crash. No one else was killed, despite the fact that this massive aircraft landed in the middle of a suburban area.

I’ve known about this for years, and mentioned it in Chocolate and Chicory: York and beyond, by bicycle. But as with so many aspects of local history I’ve found myself going back to it, with questions and curiosity, as I’ve revisited the local landscape more recently. The incident seems more interesting and more poignant the more I’ve thought about it, and today, 70 years on, I want to revisit and record my questions and thoughts in the hope that anyone who can add further information will do so.

The Press letters page, some years ago, included an evocative account by Peter Stanhope, who witnessed the crash:

The sound and the sights shocked me so much that I dropped my glass bottle of limeade, which shattered and splattered all over the pavement.

From Peter’s description and other accounts it seems that the aircraft was approaching from the north-east, heading for what was then Clifton airfield and the York Aircraft Repair Depot, where Halifaxes were repaired. An obstruction on the runway meant it couldn’t land, and as it manoeuvred away a wing hit the church spire. I’ve tried to imagine how the incident fitted into the landscape, the way it turned, falling, in a curve perhaps mirroring the curve of the roundabout, to the Imperial on the opposite side, and how somehow the pilot managed to land it not on the Imperial or any of the houses around it but in the large car park and garden area behind.

How that was achieved I don’t understand at all. Halifaxes are massive. I’ve tried to picture the wingspan of the thing across the area, and can’t.

This is the Imperial, as it was, before its demolition in the 1990s. This photo was I think taken from the centre of the roundabout.

Now, with housing, from a slightly different angle, a bit to the left, from the end of Burton Green (was Kingsway North).

Houses now fill what must have been the crash site. Around 1980 a cul-de-sac called Waveney Grove was built on what was apparently the pub’s garden. A brick wall around Waveney Grove appears to date from the 1930s, its details matching the nearby housing in Kingsway (Burton Green). So if that boundary marked the edge of the Imperial’s grounds then that must be where the Halifax came to land.

Wall of the Imperial’s garden? From Kingsway (Burton Green)

1930s wall, surrounding Waveney Grove, from Burton Green

I’ve been up there today, cycled round Clifton Moor and then back towards the crash site, through the area now known as Clifton Backies.

I don’t know what time of the day the crash happened, but I thought about it as I stood by the roundabout in that peaceful residential area, with children cycling around and people out walking their dogs, most of us with no memory of the sound of bombers in the skies above.

Just wanted to record it here. Lest we forget.

Further information

I’ve created a Google map including the location of the crash and known visible remains of RAF Clifton. Additional information welcome, please add a comment below or use the contact link.

Pilot F/Lt Ian James Alexander Cruickshanks RAFVR, aged 26 and Flight Engineer F/Sgt Victor Henry Clare DFM RAFVR, aged 20, died in the crash. For more information see this page on Aircraft Accidents in Yorkshire. Details of the crash are also on the Aviation Safety Network database.

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The women of the WAAF, Yorkshire memorial

Lisa @YorkStories — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:00:55 +0000

2011

This memorial at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington is dedicated to ‘Members of the Women’s Auxilliary Air Force who died in service in Yorkshire during WWII.’ It lists the names of 24 women, based at airfields including nearby Marston Moor, Acaster Malbis and Riccall. (Larger image)

Included in the list are:

ACW2 Marguerite H Hudson was killed in the air raid on Driffield on 15 August 1940. She was 19 years old, and the first WAAF to be killed in the war.

ACW2 Jean Scargill was working as a driver and was killed when her truck was hit by a Halifax bomber at Marston Moor, on 8 July 1943. She was 20 years old.

LACW Nellie Griffiths, aged 35, was killed in the crash of Albermarle V1762 near Sherburn in Elmet on 21 Oct 1944.

Thanks to Rich Allenby for the additional information.

(Note on acronyms: ACW2 = Aircraftwoman 2nd Class, LACW = Leading Aircraftwoman)

Memories of a member of the WAAF, at Marston Moor

Catherine Horne served with the WAAF from 1942 to 1946. Her memories are worth reading in full via the link below, as are the many memories recorded in this BBC archive. But the following lines need quoting, in particular.

I was posted to the Sergeants Mess [I had opted to be a cook] at a place called Marston Moor. I wasn’t there long when the first 1000 bomber raid took place. I can remember being recalled to help cook the meals for the returning air crew. This was the first time I saw men cry.

Catherine Horne, WW2 People’s War, BBC archive

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East Moor airfield

Lisa @YorkStories — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 23:00:56 +0000

2010

After I included a page with a photo of the Aldborough memorial I had an email from a lady in Canada whose brother had been one of the crew who died on that training flight. She was only ten when he died. Like so many other Canadian airmen who came to this country during the war, he was based at one of our Yorkshire airfields, here at East Moor, close to Sutton on the Forest.

The control tower is usually the most obvious building on these old airfields, but East Moor’s has been demolished. Peripheral airfield buildings remain, some hidden in the trees, some maintained and still used by local farmers and businesses. Many of the runways have been removed, but from the road skirting the southern part of the airfield this round area of hardstanding is still obvious, with an old piece of farm machinery left where the bombers once stood.

Lumps of concrete with iron attachments are also obvious – old aircraft tie-downs.

In the weeds nearby, more recent debris – takeaway wrappers bearing a familiar logo. In the war years, young men who had already travelled miles from their homeland assembled here, night after night, to climb into those massive heavy bombers, not knowing if they’d make it back.

In our more carefree age, we drive by on our own smaller journeys, tucking into a burger, chucking the wrapper out of the car window. Still brightly bearing the slogan ‘Going that extra mile’, it settles in the weeds at the edge of this forgotten runway.

During the Second World War, Yorkshire was home to around 40 airfields, many in the flat areas of the Vale of York. Thousands of airmen died flying from the Yorkshire airfields, many lost on training flights, because of weather conditions or aircraft malfunction. In recent decades memorials have been placed at some of these crash sites, and also close to former airfields (including this one, see East Moor airfield memorial).

You may also be interested in …

Chocolate and Chicory — Buy now, immediate download from gumroad.com

Chocolate and Chicory: York and beyond, by bicycle. My ebook includes further information on the airfields around York, and mapped cycle routes from York visiting some of them. Chocolate and Chicory is an exploration of the local landscape, its stories and histories, via themed journeys along the cycle tracks outside the city walls and the country lanes beyond the ring road. Can also be enjoyed from the comfort of your sofa. Read more …

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Riccall airfield memorial, Skipwith Common

Lisa @YorkStories — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 23:00:44 +0000

September 2010

This memorial is a recent addition, dedicated in May 2010. Like the earlier memorials at Tholthorpe, East Moor, Wombleton and other locations in Yorkshire and across the country, it stands as a reminder of a former airfield, constructed in the 1940s as part of a massive war effort. The propellor used in the memorial sculpture was donated by the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington.

More information

Spitfire marks opening on National Nature Reserve (NNR) at Skipwith Common – York Press

England’s newest nature reserve cleared for take-off – Natural England website

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Wombleton airfield memorial

Lisa @YorkStories — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 23:00:37 +0000

September 2010

Taking the road north from the village of Nunnington, you might notice an old control tower in the flat lands on your left as you get close to Wombleton. Sections of old runway are also visible. Turn left again and head for Harome and you’re on the other side of the airfield built here in the 1940s.

On the verge is a memorial dedicated to the Canadian air force (RCAF) who formed No.6 Group, and to ‘the men and women of the RAF and WAAF who served at Wombleton’. The carving on the stone reflects the airfield’s role as a base for Heavy Conversion Units (HCU) 1666 and 1679, which used the airfield to train crews to fly heavy bombers.

The memorial was dedicated in May 2001. The plaque records that ‘the people of Ryedale express their sincere thanks’ to those who served, ‘giving their youth, and time, and in many instances, their lives’.

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Tholthorpe airfield memorial

Lisa @YorkStories — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 23:00:30 +0000

September 2010

Tholthorpe, near Alne, was home to another World War Two airfield used by Canadian airmen. As at East Moor, agriculture continues alongside sections of crumbling runways and some peripheral remains of airfield accommodation.

Tholthorpe’s memorial, made of Canadian granite, was placed in 1986 on the village green. The plaque states that the memorial is dedicated to those who served at the airfield and – like the memorial at Sutton on the Forest – it is also ‘to the many citizens of this community who supported them’.

One of the Halifax bombers from Tholthorpe crashed at nearby Alne, and damaged the church, as recorded in a framed memorial on the wall there. See St Mary’s, Alne, also on this site.

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