RAF Lancaster bomber NF908
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This mostly Australian crewed bomber was on a fighter affiliation exercise on January 3rd 1945, but when descending through cloud the aircraft crashed on The Roaches, a craggy ridge in the Peak District, with the loss of all on board.
Half an hour later, a USAAF Douglas A-20G Havoc 43-9958 crashed just 3 miles to the North East near the village of Flash, killing pilot First Lieutenant Eugene H. Howard…. And the evening before, USAAF B17 43-38944 had crashed 3 miles to the North, also with the loss of all crew.
The view above is looking North – North East, with the crash site in the shade. There were a few lumps of molten metal visible, other debris scraps were beneath the snow.
Crew
Flying Officer W V W Allamby, RAAF, Pilot.
Sergeant N Lees, RAF, Flight Engineer
Flight Lieutenant J I Pritchard, RAAF, Navigator
Flight Sergeant R Emonson, RAAF, Wireless Operator
Flight Sergeant T E H Wright, RAAF, Air Gunner
Flight Sergeant C C Watson, RAAF, Air Gunner.
Flight Seargeant G J Dunbar, RAAF, Bomb Aimer
Crash site of American Flying Fortress which came down a few miles away, just the evening before.
I never realised there were so many crash sites! Thanks for the background info too, it brings it all to life.
Difficult to find some of these sites in the snow I imagine.
There are some very bleak and desolate moors in that area.
lovely light , Ian! hope your New Year is going smashingly!
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Seen in my contacts’ photos. (?)
You,ve been busy over xmas, Ian . Great work .
I am amazed that you can find any debris in these conditions. Excellent narrative as always Ian & a wonderful image of the crash site… Really gives an idea of the conditions that you encountered in your search for this site.
Superb work!!
Nice to see the crosses.
I often think that training and flying across Britain was as dangerous as ops.
Great info as always Ian – nice capture too
Thanks for this, I agree with Highy , regarding the wartime ops and training programmes for pilots flying over Britain, bleak looking place.
wow, those crosses appear so tiny amongst this massive landscape, really add another dimension to this shot. great perspective and wonderful of you guys to place the tributes.
Hello. My uncle was the pilot of this aircraft. He was Walter Vernon Wilfred Allamby. He was 26 years old.
There were actually 7 killed in this crash. Geoffrey James Dunbar Flight Sergeant RAAF. He was the bomb aimer.
Thanks for that Lindsay, I have amended the record.
Need to revisit this site, take a better photo.
Ian
That’s fine Ian. I should be thanking you for the site and the photograph. That’s one really good thing about the Internet and Google it throws up a surprise like your photograph. I know his mum and dad were pained til their dying day over losing him. As I guess most mum and dad’s would be. What they would have given to see your photo. I don’t think they even got to see a photo of his grave let alone visit it. I only saw a photo of it yesterday along with graves of the 6 other men. regards Lindsay.
Your visit has spurred me on to do a better job Lindsay. I will revisit this site soon, and will drop you a line when I do.
Yes the internet is great for things like this. After the death of my mother, my wife found an old photo from the war of my Dad, who had died in 1996, on board a ship. The photo had been missing and presumed lost since the early 80s (it was tucked in the pages of a book). I put it up on the internet and shortly afterwards 2 people got in touch at the same time. One was a family looking for info about a relative who died on that ship during the war, they had his date of death but no detail as to what happened. The other person was one of the people in the photo! I was able to meet this man (his name was Ted Wright – he died last October) and although I could provide the other family with no details, Ted could because he was with that very man when he died. The internet is an amazingly useful bit of technology!
Thank you, my cousin Jack Ivan Pritchard was the Navigator. I have photos of the funeral of the crew, buried in Chester Blacon Cemetery.
The complete crew was:
Walter Vernon Wilfred Allamby Flying Officer RAAF Pilot
Norman Lees Sergeant RAFVR Flight Engineer
Jack Ivan Pritchard Flight Lieutenant RAAF Navigator
Geoffrey James Dunbar Flight Sergeant RAAF Bomb Aimer
Richard Emonson Flight Sergeant RAAF Wireless Operator
Thomas Edward Harold Wright Flight Sergeant RAAF Air Gunner
Cleveland Charles Watson Flight Sergeant RAAF Air Gunner
Thank you Michael