Avro Lancaster B.Mk.I ED481 / WS-N of No.9 Squadron, RAF flew into Hawnby Hill on the 30th January 1943

Avro Lancaster

Frank Goheen Nelson RCAF Warrant Officer Pilot Killed
McKeen Allan RCAF Sergeant Flight Engineer Killed
George Francis Done Sergeant Navigator Killed
Allan Arthur Frederick Williams Sergeant Bomb Aimer / Navigator Killed
Henry Summers Jones Sergeant Wireless operator / Air gunner Killed
Arthur William Butcher Sergeant Air gunner Killed
Walter George Murton Sergeant Air gunner Killed

Although Flight Sergeant Nelson was serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force he was in fact American, being from Wilkinsburg Pennsylvannia.

The crew had carried out a sortie against Hamburg from their home base of RAF Waddington near Lincoln. Upon their return they were diverted to RAF Leeming near Northallerton and while in area flew into the western side of Hawnby Hill.

Wreckage at the crash site of Avro Lancaster Mk.I ED481 on Hawnby Hill, North Yorkshire
Not much remains of ED481 today on Hawnby Hill, just a small collection of well hidden fragments in the long grass and heather.
Crash site of Avro Lancaster Mk.I ED481 on Hawnby Hill, North Yorkshire
The aircraft first impacted behind where this photo was taken and it came to rest in the foreground.