Sergeant 1817751 Cyril George Ayres
Flight Engineer, Royal Air Force
Died aged 19, Crash Landing
Blakely, Greater Manchester
Son of Frederick William & Mary Annie of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
Halifax bomber JN886 of 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit crashed in Blackley, Greater Manchester, England on the 5th of October 1944 with the loss of 3 of the 7 crew members, all but one on board were Canadian.
The bomber took off from RAF Wombleton in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, on a cross country / bombing practice exercise on the evening of October 4th, 1944. Despite the starboard inner engine failing, the pilot decided to continue, perhaps reasoning that it was good practice for the crew to deal with flying with an engine out? Whatever the reason, after 5 hours of flying on 3 engines, the starboard outer engine also packed in.
Circling above north Manchester, Flying Officer Cooke ordered the crew to bale out while he looked for somewhere to try to crash land the Halifax. Only 3 managed to do so (and they were so low they were injured in the process) before the bomber crashed through the churchyard of St Andrews shortly after midnight. The wreck came to a halt in a field, narrowly missing the surrounding houses. One man, Sergeant Craig, survived the crash
https://aircrashsites.co.uk∼Flight Sergeant Engineer 1817751 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve died aged 19. Son of Frederick William & Mary Annie of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
Flight Engineer, Royal Air Force
Died aged 19, Crash Landing
Blakely, Greater Manchester
Son of Frederick William & Mary Annie of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
Halifax bomber JN886 of 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit crashed in Blackley, Greater Manchester, England on the 5th of October 1944 with the loss of 3 of the 7 crew members, all but one on board were Canadian.
The bomber took off from RAF Wombleton in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, on a cross country / bombing practice exercise on the evening of October 4th, 1944. Despite the starboard inner engine failing, the pilot decided to continue, perhaps reasoning that it was good practice for the crew to deal with flying with an engine out? Whatever the reason, after 5 hours of flying on 3 engines, the starboard outer engine also packed in.
Circling above north Manchester, Flying Officer Cooke ordered the crew to bale out while he looked for somewhere to try to crash land the Halifax. Only 3 managed to do so (and they were so low they were injured in the process) before the bomber crashed through the churchyard of St Andrews shortly after midnight. The wreck came to a halt in a field, narrowly missing the surrounding houses. One man, Sergeant Craig, survived the crash
https://aircrashsites.co.uk∼Flight Sergeant Engineer 1817751 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve died aged 19. Son of Frederick William & Mary Annie of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
Sergeant 1817751 Cyril George Ayres
Flight Engineer, Royal Air Force
Died aged 19, Crash Landing
Blakely, Greater Manchester
Son of Frederick William & Mary Annie of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
Halifax bomber JN886 of 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit crashed in Blackley, Greater Manchester, England on the 5th of October 1944 with the loss of 3 of the 7 crew members, all but one on board were Canadian.
The bomber took off from RAF Wombleton in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, on a cross country / bombing practice exercise on the evening of October 4th, 1944. Despite the starboard inner engine failing, the pilot decided to continue, perhaps reasoning that it was good practice for the crew to deal with flying with an engine out? Whatever the reason, after 5 hours of flying on 3 engines, the starboard outer engine also packed in.
Circling above north Manchester, Flying Officer Cooke ordered the crew to bale out while he looked for somewhere to try to crash land the Halifax. Only 3 managed to do so (and they were so low they were injured in the process) before the bomber crashed through the churchyard of St Andrews shortly after midnight. The wreck came to a halt in a field, narrowly missing the surrounding houses. One man, Sergeant Craig, survived the crash
https://aircrashsites.co.uk∼Flight Sergeant Engineer 1817751 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve died aged 19. Son of Frederick William & Mary Annie of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
Flight Engineer, Royal Air Force
Died aged 19, Crash Landing
Blakely, Greater Manchester
Son of Frederick William & Mary Annie of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
Halifax bomber JN886 of 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit crashed in Blackley, Greater Manchester, England on the 5th of October 1944 with the loss of 3 of the 7 crew members, all but one on board were Canadian.
The bomber took off from RAF Wombleton in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, on a cross country / bombing practice exercise on the evening of October 4th, 1944. Despite the starboard inner engine failing, the pilot decided to continue, perhaps reasoning that it was good practice for the crew to deal with flying with an engine out? Whatever the reason, after 5 hours of flying on 3 engines, the starboard outer engine also packed in.
Circling above north Manchester, Flying Officer Cooke ordered the crew to bale out while he looked for somewhere to try to crash land the Halifax. Only 3 managed to do so (and they were so low they were injured in the process) before the bomber crashed through the churchyard of St Andrews shortly after midnight. The wreck came to a halt in a field, narrowly missing the surrounding houses. One man, Sergeant Craig, survived the crash
https://aircrashsites.co.uk∼Flight Sergeant Engineer 1817751 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve died aged 19. Son of Frederick William & Mary Annie of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
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