1943-02-15|Wellington Mk.III|HF613|No.22 OTU, RAF|Nr Hope, Derbyshire

Wellington Mk.III HF613 / DD-R of No.22 OTU, crashed close to the village of Hope on the 15th February 1943

John Douglas Kester	Sergeant RCAF	Pilot	Killed
Richard Foote Cairns	Sergeant RCAF	Navigator	Killed
William James Hackett	Sergeant RCAF	Air gunner	Killed
Bernard Elliott Wilkinson	Sergeant RCAF	Air gunner	Killed
William Arthur Billy Marwood	Sergeant RAFVR	Wireless operator / Air gunner	Killed

The aircraft took off during the mid-morning of the 15th February 1943 from Wellesbourne Mountford near Stratford upon Avon for a cross country flight. At just after 13:00 the aircraft descended out of bad weather (possibly due to icing) and became enveloped in a snow storm, shortly afterwards the aircraft crashed, seemingly out of control, with a steep nose down attitude near to Peakshole Water. The aircraft slide for a short distance, crossing the river and striking a large embankment on the other side where the aircraft was completely destroyed.

Crash site of Vickers Wellington Mk.III HF613 at Peakshole Water between Hope and Castleton, Derbyshire — HF613 came to rest up against the bank just to the right of the stone wall, it first impacted in the field behind where this photo was taken.

A number of years ago after a period of heavy rain a bomb was apparently discovered in the river bank at this site.

This proved to be a practice bomb of the type that the RAF used, while not a full scale explosive device these do contain a charge, designed to break apart the casing, more than capable of spoiling someone’s day along with titanium tetrachloride which created a cloud of Titanium dioxide and Hydrochloric acid when exposed to the air. This cloud was visible to range controllers for scoring bombing accuracy.

Three of the five crew are buried at Buxton Cemtery, they are Sgt Cairns, Sgt Hackett and Sgt Kester.