Colsterdale Halifax Memorial

On the night of 23rd/24th November 1943, six Halifax aircraft from 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Riccall were tasked with night cross-country training exercises. The weather was forecast to be extremely bad, with gale warnings issued, yet the Commanding Officer — Wing Commander Francis William Thompson DFC — allowed the exercise to continue. These were the only six aircraft in all of the Yorkshire-based Heavy Conversion Units to fly that night. Of the six aircraft, two returned early with icing problems. Halifax DT541 crashed near Riccall. Halifax DT578 crashed into the side of Great Whernside in the Pennines. Only two of the six crews completed the exercise, and one of these is thought to have suffered engine problems from icing. Halifax JB926, coded ZB-A, took off from Riccall at 23:05 hours on 23rd November 1943. The planned route was St Bees Head, St Abbs Head, Hexham, Sleaford, Northampton, then return. At approximately 01:15 hours on the 24th, an aircraft was heard in a steep dive over the Healey area west of Masham. A red glow was then seen at Colsterdale. The aircraft had broken up in mid-air before impact — the port outer wing and both outer engines had broken loose, almost certainly due to severe ice accumulation on the airframe. The wreckage fell across the western edge of Slipstone Crags. All eight crew members were killed. They ranged in age from 20 to 23. Five were buried at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery; the others were returned to their home communities in Belfast, Reading, Macduff, and Whitchurch in Wales. An initial suggestion on the AM Form 1180 that JB926 may have collided with DT578 (lost on Great Whernside the same night) was ruled out by the Accident Investigation Branch, as there was a two-hour gap between the two incidents. Wing Commander Thompson was replaced as CO of 1658 HCU following these incidents. He was subsequently awarded the AFC, gazetted 1 January 1944. Very little wreckage remains at the site today.