Vickers Wellington Mk.IC Z8808 of No.11 OTU, crashed at Ashfold Gill Head on Gouthwaite Moor near Pateley Bridge on the 2nd / 3rd September 1942

Vickers Wellington Mk.X at the Royal Air Force Museum

 

P. R. Coney Flight Lieutenant, RNZAF Pilot Injured
J. Wilding Sergeant Co-pilot Injured
M. B. Grainger Sergeant, RNZAF Observer Injured
John H. F. Kemp Sergeant Bomb Aimer Injured
J. E. Burrel Flight Sergeant Wireless Operator Injured
W. G. Reading Sergeant Air gunner injured
G. W. Wilford Sergeant Wireless Operator / Air gunner Injured

 

Several trainee crews from No.11 OTU were briefed to fly a night cross country flight for the night of the 2nd September 1942, some took off from the unit’s main base at RAF Bassingbourne while others, including the crew of Z8808, took off from their satelitte at Steeple Morden. While over northern England the crew of Z8808 became disorientated in poor weather and flew into gently rising moorland to the west of Pateley Bridge. At about the same time on the same night Wellington Mk.IC DV718, flying from Bassingbourne, crashed a few miles to the north on Blake Hill.

Crash site of Wellington Z8808 on Gouthwaite Moor near Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire
A general view of part of the crash site, taken in May 2002.
Wreckage at the crash site of Wellington Z8808 on Gouthwaite Moor near Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire
A second over view of the same area shown in the first photograph.
Crash site of Wellington Z8808 on Gouthwaite Moor near Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire
This view is similar to the first, but taken in 2011, a large amount of the geodetic framework has since been removed from the site.
Wreckage at the crash site of Wellington Z8808 on Gouthwaite Moor near Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire
Smaller pieces are scattered in the heads of two gullies.