Hawker Hurricane Mk.I P3522 of No.213 Sqn, RAF, crashed on Caldbergh Moor near Masham on the 10th January 1941

Hawker Hurricane

 

Eric Gordon Bruce Sergeant Pilot Killed

During the morning of 10th January 1941 Sergeant Bruce was on an air test from RAF Leconfield near Beverley, East Yorkshire, in Hurricane P3522. He had been flying in formation with another aircraft for a while before contact with that aircraft was lost. When that aircraft returned to Leconfield it was discovered that Sgt Bruce was missing. Initially it was thought that the aircraft may have crashed into the North Sea as some of the flight had been off the east coast.

Nothing further was heard about the aircraft until its wreckage was discovered on the 23rd January on Caldbergh Moor west of Masham in the Yorkshire Dales and reported to RAF Catterick. The wreckage was spread over a considerable area

Sergeant Bruce was cremated at Darlington before his ashes were interred at West Acklam churchyard in Middlesbrough.

Memorial at the crash site of Hurricane P3522 on Caldbergh Moor, Colsterdale, Yorkshire
Very little marks the spot where the aircraft crashed in terms of wreckage, however there is a stone memorial placed at the site after the war by the pilot’s mother.
Memorial at the crash site of Hurricane P3522 on Caldbergh Moor, Colsterdale, Yorkshire
A closer view of the memorial plaque.