Dornier Do217E-4 4342, U5+GR of KG2, crashed in Easterside Hill near Hawnby on the 17th December 1942.
|
Crew / Passengers |
Rank - If Applicable |
Position e.g. Pilot |
Status |
| Rolf Hausner | Oberleutnant | Pilot |
Killed |
| Erd Sirius | Unteroffizier | Observer |
Killed |
| Ernst Wierderer | Oberfeldweber | Engineer |
Killed |
| Hartwig Hupe | Oberfeldweber | Radio Operator |
Killed |
The aircraft was being used to take part in a night raid against York. The crew had departed their home base at Deelan in Holland and while flying the inbound leg at low level in cloud the aircraft struck the gently rising moor to the north of Easterside Hill. The wreckage then ploughed through a wall and exploded. Such was the destruction caused by the crash and detonation of some of its payload that only two of the crew were ever accounted for.
Only a couple of tiny fragments remains, on our visit to the site we saw a single fragment of perspex in the ditch beside the wall.
The point in the wall where the aircraft hit is still visible as this large gap.