Halifax JD151 Memorial, Wressle (Intake Plantation)

Could you help us fill in the inscription?

JD151 took off from RAF Breighton on the night of 10/11 August 1943 as part of a 653-aircraft attack on Nürnberg. The round trip placed heavy demands on fuel and by the time the aircraft turned for home the fuel state was critical. On approach to Breighton the engines failed through fuel starvation. The aircraft came down near Bowthorpe Hall, South Duffield, on the western side of the River Derwent — geographically near Wressle, though the village itself sits across the river.

Three of the seven crew did not survive. Navigator P/O Harry Binns and air gunner Sgt Thomas Gillicker died in the crash; flight engineer F/Sgt William John Brown survived initial injuries but died two days later on 13 August. The other four, including pilot P/O Jack Jenkinson and the American gunner S/Sgt Richard Barger of the USAAF (one of several US personnel flying operationally with RAF Bomber Command at that time), were injured but recovered. Barger lived until 2012.

The primary source records Binns's rank as P/O and O'Neill's as Sgt. The seed data gave these as Sgt Binns and F/Lt O'Neill respectively — those ranks are not confirmed by the yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk or aircrewremembered.com records and should not be used.

Research by local historians Albert Pritchard, Eric Barton, and Ken Reast, who used metal-detector survey to confirm the true JD151 crash site near Bowthorpe Hall and identify the location error at Intake Plantation. The Yorkshire Air Museum is associated with the original (erroneously sited) plaque.

Do you know of any commemorative events or annual services held at this memorial? We would love to hear from local communities who remember.