Handley Page Halifax Mk.II DT581 / MH-Y of No.51 Squadron RAF crashed on Hoar Side Moor, Todmorden, on the 21st January 1943

 

Richard Donovan Getliffe	Pilot Officer	Pilot	Injured
Alexander Campbell	Sergeant	Flight Engineer	Injured
Edward Burt Chatfield	Pilot Officer	Navigator	Injured
Allan Campbell	Sergeant	Air Bomber	Killed
George Hugh Whyte	Sergeant	Wireless Operator / Air gunner	Killed
John James Merritt	Sergeant	Air Gunner	Injured
Reginald Ernest Smart	Sergeant	Air Gunner	Injured

 

The crew had taken off from their base at Snaith near Selby to drop two mines (an A.108 and B.200 type) into the sea in the ‘Nectarines’ area of the North Sea, this was around the Frisian Islands. The crew had been briefed to fly from base to the Mablethorpe on the Lincolnshire coast before setting course direct for the Frisian Is. and then returning via the same route. On returning they over-shot their base and continued westwards. The aircraft eventually struck a drystone wall on the edge of Hoar Side Moor and slid to a halt where it burned out.

Of the surviving crew members Alexander Campbell and John Merritt were both killed, Campbell when Halifax Mk.II W7861 was lost without trace during a sortie against Hamburg on the night of the 3rd / 4th March 1943 and Merritt when Halifax Mk.II DT666 crashed at Carlton near to Snaith while returning from operations against Essen on the 3rd / 4th April 1943. Both were still flying with No.51 Squadron.