550 Squadron Photos

F/O S H Hayter and Crew

P/O (later F/O) Hayter and crew were posted to 550 Sqdn from 11 base w.e.f. 8.9.44:

F/O Stanley Hayter was the only survivor when his aircraft, NF963, crashed 4th October 1944; he was teaching his F/Eng to fly. On this occasion the full regular Hayter crew was not flying, rather the two gunners had been replaced by the gunners from another crew. Thus on this flight the crew flying was:

Both A/Gs, Sgts Sheridan and McVey, were the regular gunners with the F/O Tapsell crew.

The entry on the 550 Squadron Roll of Honour is available here.

Other information about the flight and the target available here.

See also the memorial pages at: Lancaster NF963 near Ellingstring, Masham.

P/O Hayter with Sqdn Adjutant and Orderly Room Staff
Back row: L-to-R: no names available
Front row: L-to-R: ?, P/O Hayter (P), F/Lt Waitt (Adjutant) ?, ?

J P Sheridan grave
Glasgow (St. Kentigerns's) Roman Catholic Cemetery

Thanks to Ian Phillips (nephew of Arthur Pearce) for the following photograph.

Crash Information

Richard Allenby (who has been researching a number of crash sites in Yorkshire) notes:

"There are a number of references to Ellingstring as the crash location. The main one is from the RAF's basic accident record card known as the AM Form 1180, on that there is a military map reference given and when plotted to the military map the site is where the wreckage is at Ellingstring. The second is from a basic list of transcribed North Riding of Yorkshire police accident records which gives a map reference of the same place. [...]

A number of Lincolnshire-based aircraft that crashed anywhere in the general area of the north end of North Yorkshire all get recorded on their ORBs as being "near Leeming".

Richard has put a lot of this information online at: Lancaster NF963 near Ellingstring, Masham.

NF963 crash location
Point B is the crash site at Ellingstring
(Point A is Stockdale Moor, the location the aircraft was originally stated as crashing, before it was identified that confusion between OS and Military grid references led to this being inaccurately stated in some records). hSee: Lancaster NF963 near Ellingstring, Masham

Barbara Alexander is a relative of F/O R R Bradshaw RNZAF (A/B) who was killed in the crash. Barbara notes:

"... the pilot was found near the wreckage of NF963. I have a copy of a letter sent by a local fireman to Stan Hayter the pilot. This man attended the crash site. He says that when they arrived they found 6 dead aircrew, 3 were by the burning plane and the other 3 were nearby. While they were standing there they then heard someone calling out. It was Stan Hayter the pilot who was over by some trees. Simon Hayter has this letter and a diagram of the crash site showing the position of the different parts of the plane, etc. The letter records that the pilot was found about 100 yards from the aircraft.

Sgt John Patrick "Jack" Sheridan

For information and photographs (recently received) about Jack Sheridan see the F/O Tapsell crew web-page (as that was his regular crew).