New Holtby memorial for WW2 bomber crew

Update Autumn 2022

On the 8th September an event was held at 3.00pm on Holtby Village Green in commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the loss of a Halifax Bomber in Holtby.

The sad passing of HM The Queen that very same afternoon overshadowed the event somewhat and the official RAF photos were not released during the mourning period.

The RAF Leeming Facebook post provides a good history and it was especially poignant for the pilot’s daughter to have travelled up from Suffolk to attend the memorial to her father who she had never met.

The memorial is in a prominent place in Holtby for anyone passing through.

Official unveiling Exactly 80 years after the crew of Halifax W1228 were killed when their aircraft exploded over the North Yorkshire village of Holtby, the official unveiling of a memorial in their honour took place.. Those present included Susan Nicholson the daughter of one of the airmen. She would never know her father after he died captaining the aircraft, but bears the name he had already chosen for her..

The 76 Squadron Halifax had taken off from Middleton St George en route to Frankfurt shortly before 2000 on September 8 1942, but exploded within just 20 minutes. It was later determined that a photo-flash – designed to light up the target and enable photography of the raid – had ignited and detonated one of the bombs on board.

Initiated during COVID lockdown, the memorial was researched by Wing Commander Greg Smith, who lives in the Holtby and was asked to help out by local villagers. It’s official unveiling by RAF Leeming Station Commander, Group Captain Gareth Prendergast and attended by the Lord Mayor of York, Councillor David Carr, was poignant and fitting tribute.

Susan said: “My father was killed in October and I was born the following April. It’s lovely that they have been remembered because they mattered. I never met him, but he gave me my name.”

Earlier Great work by the Holtby Parish Council who have made use of one of the scrapped City Centre noticeboards – and repurposed it as a memorial board to the Halifax Bomber that came down in Holtby in 1942.

The board was Installed on Saturday morning with a short service of commemoration conducted on Remembrance Sunday led by Wing Commander (retired) Greg Smith which was very well attended.

A very useful project carried out by Holtby PC, local Councillor Mark Warters and the Wing Commander who moved into Holtby a while back and is now on the Parish Council.

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The following is from a record of Yorkshire aircraft crashes, (click)

Halifax W1228 near Holtby, York.

At 19.58hrs on 8th September 1942 this 76 Squadron aircraft took off from Middleton St.George to undertake an operational flight to bomb Frankfurt. Twenty minutes after taking off and while flying just east of York at 8,000 feet the aircraft exploded. Wreckage fell around the village of Holtby and all on board were killed. An investigation found that it was likely that the photo-flash had detonated in the bomb bay when burning fuel from damaged fuel lines that ran across the fuselage floor just above it had caught fire. The photoflash exploding resulted in the aircraft’s bomb load also exploding. Just two days previously the same thing had happened to a Wellington over Norfolk, following an investigation it was suggested that the placing of photo-flashes in bomb bays be discontinued. A photo-flash was a pyrotechnic device dropped by aircraft which would ignite and light up the target to allow a photograph of their bombing to be taken.

Halifax W1228 was built to contract B.982938/39 by English Electric Co.Ltd. at Samlesbury. It was initially taken on charge by 78 Squadron on 23rd July 1942 but was then transferred to 76 Squadron at Middleton St.George the following day. As a result of the mid-air explosion on 8th September 1942 Cat.E2/FB damage was recorded and the aircraft was struck off charge on 16th September 1942.

Tiger Moth T6434 would crash in the same area on 20th September 1942 while it’s crew were probably landing at the crash site of the Halifax.

• Pilot – F/Sgt John Eric Nicholson RAFVR (1023368), aged 28, of Pendleton, Salford, Lancashire. Buried Barmby Moor Churchyard, Yorkshire.
• Second Pilot – P/O Alfred Norman Thompson RAFVR (902444), aged 22, of Hornsey. Buried Tottenham Cemetery, London.
• Flight Engineer – Sgt John Taylor Murray RAF (536790), aged 26. Buried Barmby Moor Churchyard, Yorkshire.
• Navigator (/Bomb Aimer) – F/O Arnold Robson RAFVR (123276), aged 26, of Howden-le-Wear. Buried Howden-le-Wear Churchyard, Durham.
• Wireless Operator / Air Gunner – Sgt Laurence George Harvey RAFVR (1256530), aged 22, of Dagenham. Buried Eastbrookend Cemetery, Dagenham, Essex.
• Wireless Operator / Air Gunner – Sgt Ronald Leonard Stevens RAFVR (1182379), aged 20, of Morden. Buried Morden Cemetery, Surrey.
• Rear Gunner – Sgt Cecil Richard Rundle RAFVR (778696), aged 31, of Southern Rhodesia. Buried Barmby Moor Churchyard, Yorkshire.

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Sgt Nicholson flew his first operational flight with 76 Squadron on 10th April 1942 to Le Havre as a second pilot and he flew a number of operational flights as second pilot before flying his first as captain on the night of 26th / 27th July 1942 to Hamburg in Halifax W1228 (this aircraft).

Arnold Robson received a commission on 7th March 1942 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) and received promotion to F/O on probation (war subs) after his death on 1st October 1942.