Whitley Mk.V BD230 of No.42 Operational Training Unit (OTU) crashed on Bullhurst Hill close to the village of Weston Underwood near Derby on the 24th July 1944

 

John William Edward Cooper Flight Sergeant Pilot Killed – Missing
William Brooksbank Smith Sergeant Bomb Aimer Killed
Henry Cowan Sergeant Navigator Killed – Missing
Walter Clifford Norcross Sergeant Wireless Operator Killed – Missing
Maurice Mitchell Lyon Sergeant Air Gunner Killed

 

The crew had flown a night cross country navigation flight and were returning to their home base at Ashbourne when the aircraft dived into the ground only a few miles short.

Following the crash three of the crew could not be accounted for and were assumed by No.42 OTU to have “disappeared with the aircraft which went fifteen feet into the ground“. On the 1st August the vicar of St Saviour church in Ashbourne, Canon Farrow, took the memorial service for those who had died after which he held a committal service at the crash site.

Sgt William Smith was buried at Ashbourne cemetery only a few miles from the crash site and Sgt Maurice Lyon was buried at St Helens Cemetery in Lancashire.

Grave of Sergeant William Brooksbank Smith at Ashbourne Cemetery
Sergeant Williams Smith’s grave at Ashbourne Cemetery.
Grave of Sergeant Maurice Mitchell Lyon at St Helens Cemetery
Above is a photograph of Maurice Lyon’s grave at St Helens Cemetery.
Image Copyright: David Hamilton.
Memorial at the crash site of Armstrong Whitworth Whitley BD230 on farm land at Bullhurst Hill, Weston Underwood, Derby
Today the crash site is marked by a stone memorial bearing the names of the five airmen who lost their lives in the crash. For three of the men this site is also there grave.
Memorial at the crash site of Armstrong Whitworth Whitley BD230 on farm land at Bullhurst Hill, Weston Underwood, Derby
A close up view of the inscription on the memorial.