Wellington BK387.
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Fragments of debris from Wellington BK387, near Oakworth, Yorkshire
2nd visit to this site. These are some of the fragmentary remains we found in the vicinity. This Canadian crewed Wellington bomber crashed in January 1944 while on a night time navigation exercise, with the loss of all on board.
The cause of the crash is unclear. Canadian crewed Wellington BK387 was on a night training exercise when the aircraft descended through cloud and crashed into farmland, January 2nd 1944. One witness account suggests Warrant Officer Glass was trying to land the plane in the fields.
This same account quotes the landlord of the nearby Grouse Inn, who says he had gone to his outside toilet and, with the door open (after all the customers had gone home for the night…) “he sat there frightened out of his skin as he could see the plane heading straight for his loo”. Fortunately for him at least, the Wellington crashed just beyond the pub.
Crew
Warrant Officer E.I Glass (Pilot)
Flying Officer J.J McHenry (Navigator)
Warrant Officer J E Dalling, (Bomb Aimer)
Warrant Officer J Henfrey (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant E Savage (Air Gunner)
Sergeant N W Crawford (Air Gunner)
For more about this well remembered crash, see The Tewitt Lane Memorial page at
www.oakworthvillage.com/
Some crew photos from there
W/O Glass, RCAF
Flying Officer McHenry RCAF
W/O Henfrey, RCAF
Only small fragments then Ian. Nice memorial site though
amazing dof
amazing dof
as interesting as usual,ian…hell of an impact,too,looking at the pieces….
I really like seeing your research.. it’s good that you’re keeping such a detailed record of events from such a long time ago..
Well captured Ian , The shot of the wreckage looks as if its on the edge of a precipice rather than edge of a pool .
The shot of the monument also contains the gulley in which the fuselage came to rest .
Excellent work as always Ian..I am always amazed that you can still find so many fragments all these years on.
Wow – what a find Ian, and it’s a great shot of it too – the green tones and the focus are great.
Not very much left at all
That’s a cracking perspective Ian.
………………..sad story man!!!
Beautiful taken shot!
Janwillem
Nicely taken shot Ian
I never realized we have had so many air crashes in the uk
Cracking dof Ian and, once again, a fascinating story
Hi Ian,
WO Glass was my great uncle, the young boy in the other photo is my uncle Max – Also later an RCAF pilot. We’ve all been to the Crash site a few times. I used ot be in touch with Dave Binney in Haworth/Oakworth, think he did the site you referenced. Anyway, I have all of Ernests papers, medals, pictures from my grandfather and from Corrine. Is there any chacne you might be able to part with some of the crash pieces? I’d love to have some fragments. BTW both Ernest and Savage were pre war squadron mates in #3 Bomber squadron based in Calgary, also my hometown. I have tried to find contemprary pictures of the crash, but no luck
Anyway, nice to see so many people rembering something that was always seemed such a prominet but private part of family lore. It is a sad and also beautiful spot.
We attended the memorial that was held today.
Hi asteperious, thank you for dropping by and commenting, good to hear from you. This site is particularly well remembered. I’m afraid I don’t have any fragments though – the bits that we found we left at the site. I’ll send you a mail via Flickr.
Thanks again
Ian
This is the photo referred to