Geograph - photograph every grid square

At 4:10 on the morning of 11th February 1940 a Hudson aircraft took off from Thornaby Airfield (NZ455160) to search for German minesweepers operating off the Danish coast. Five minutes later the plane crashed on Easby Moor killing three of the four man crew and injuring the fourth. Ice had formed on the wings causing the aircraft to fail to gain sufficient height to clear the hills. The aircraft ploughed through the larch plantation shown in the image before coming to rest. The gap in the plantation corresponds exactly with the Hudson's wingspan of 65½ feet. The aircrew who died were Flying Officer Tom Parker, Sergeant Harold Berksley and Corporal Norman Drury. Leading Aircraftman Athol Barker survived but was later shot down whilst flying over Germany. The four unexploded bombs that the Hudson carried were later detonated by the RAF resulting in the pond shown in the foreground.