Date: 17th June 1944
Unit: No.10 Squadron R.A.F.
Type: Handley Page Halifax BIII
Serial No. LV825
Code: ZA-G
Location: Patures Farm, Rawcliffe, 3 miles SW of Goole, Yorkshire.
Pilot Officer: Norman Colin Leitch 427001 R.A.A.F. Age.28. Killed
Sergeant: Ronald Francis Pearce 1339551 R.A.F. Age.23. Killed
Flight Sgt: William John McCarrol 1483480 R.A.F. Age.21. Missing
Sergeant: Clarence Ralph Lewington 1587162 R.A.F. Age.20. Killed
Sergeant: Cyril Albert Dummer 1866298 R.A.F. Age.19. Killed
Sergeant: Ronald Aubrey Crawford 929824 R.A.F. Age.23. Missing
Flight Sgt: Mervyn John Coleman 436070 R.A.A.F. Age; 20, Injured (Born; Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Enlisted: Perth, Australia)
REASON FOR LOSS:
Statement of F/S Coleman at the Court of Inquiry;
I am an air gunner and was detailed as Rear Gunner in aircraft Halifax III LV825 (G) which was to fly on bombing operations on the night of 16/17th June 1944. We took off at 00.20 hours from Melbourne and had to fly on a radius of action before coming back over base to set course for the operational flight proper. We flew just below the clouds which were based at about what I should judge as 1500 feet. After flying for about five minutes I heard over the intercom, the Mid-Upper Gunner (Sgt Dummer) report to the Pilot, P/O Leitch, that the starboard outer engine was on fire. I heard the pilot say he would feather the engine but the Mid-Upper Gunner said he could see that the propellor was still rotating.
The F/Engineer (Sgt Crawford) asked the Pilot whether he had pushed the feathering button right in and the latter replied that it was in as far as it could go. The Pilot also said he had put on the graviner switch, and asked the Navigator (Sgt Pearce) for a course to take the aircraft out to sea so that he could jettison the bombs. The Navigator replied that if he kept ahead as he was he would reach the sea.
A few minutes later the Pilot said that he could not maintain height and that it would be best to jettison the bombs dead immediately, at the same time he ordered the crew other than myself to get into the rest position and brace themselves. I twice heard him shout out "we're going in" and I braced myself in my turret.
I could see a glow on the starboard side and sparks trailing backward, but was not able to see the wing itself. All at once the aeroplane crashed and I scrambled out as quickly as I could.
The aeroplane was blazing and after shouting and getting no reply from any of the others I ran as hard as I could and after about fifty yards fell into a ditch. At this moment the bombs exploded. I lay for about four minutes and then got up to find a crowd had started to collect. I shouted out that there were bombs onboard and then a policeman led me away. I do not know for sure whether the undercarriage was down but the landing certainly felt as if we had arrived with the undercarriage up.
Signed. M. J. Coleman 19.06.44.
Back row: Sgt Crawford, Sgt Lewington, Sgt Dummer, F/Sgt Coleman. Front row: Sgt Pearce, P/O Leitch and Sgt McCarroll
Rear turret of Halifax LV825
Crash site 18th June 1944
Visit to the crash site 2000
Perspex and 500lb bomb shrapnel found on surface of field
Mr. Harold Dummer, brother of Cyril with a mounted cross he carved out of a piece of perspex we gave him from the crash site in memory of Cyril.
Cyril's original grave marker
The "Telegram" 19/6/1944
Burial details:
P/O Leitch: Harrowgate Stonefall Cemetery. Sec. B. Row G. Grave 3.
Son of Colin Campbell Leitch and Mary Leitch; husband of Isabel Currie Leitch, of Innaloo, Western Australia.
Sgt Pearce: Ford Park Cemetery, Plymouth.Gen. Sec. K. Row 30. Grave 29.
Son of Richard Charles and Kate Pearce, of Plymouth.
F/S McCarrol: Runnymede Memorial. Panel 220.
Son of Robert T. and Jane McCarroll, of Belfast.
Sgt Lewington: Melksham Church Cemetery.
Son of Benjamin Job and Melinda Lewington, of Melksham.
Sgt Dummer: Harrowgate Stonefall Cemetery. Sec. B. Row G. Grave 4.
Son of Arthur Reginald and Ethel Mary Dummer, of Kenton, Middlesex.
Sgt Crawford: Runnymede Memorial. Panel 227.
Son of Arthur James Crawford and Florence May Crawford, of Swansea.
Many thanks to Michael Harrison for the new updates. Michael is continuing to provide the Aircrew Remembrance Society with new information, almost daily and we are extremely grateful for his dedication and time.
