B-17G 44-8683 of the 388th Bombardment Group, USAAF, crashed on Great Whernside near Kettlewell 17th May 1945
Harry J. Cole | 1st Lieutenant | Pilot | Killed |
Vance Lamar Ferguson | 2nd Lieutenant | Co-pilot | Killed |
James M. Young | 2nd Lieutenant | Navigator | Killed |
Hoyt E. Dixon | Sergeant | Flight Engineer | Killed |
Dario Battista | Sergeant | Radio Operator | Killed |
Following the end of the war in Europe many units were winding down or in some cases preparing to move to the Far East where the war was continuing against Japan. Many of the aircrew who were going to be re-deployed continued with normal routine training flights.
The crew of 44-8683 were on one such training flight, they were flying a triangular route of just over 900 miles that was to have taken them from their base at Knettishall in Suffolk to Newcastle upon Tyne, then onwards to Land’s End before returning to Knettishall. It is thought that while flying over the Pennines on the leg from Newcastle to Land’s End the pilots had seen poor weather ahead of them and opted to return to Knettishall. This took them on a South Easterly course across the Yorkshire Dales, and while flying in that direction the aircraft struck the southern end of Great Whernside near the village of Kettlewell and disintegrated across the slope killing the 5 crew members.
This aircraft crashed close to where Halifax DT578 had crashed in 1943 while Mosquito RL197 crashed further North in 1948.
Four of the crew were buried at the American Military Cemetery at Madingley near Cambridge, they were: