Pogmoor - Cresswell St
A plaque has been placed on bungalows, built by the Royal British Legion, on Cresswell Street, Barnsley.
It reads: In Memory Of Sgt A Hollingworth RAAF & Sgt A Buchanan RCAF Who died when their Whitley Bomber crashed nearby On the 6th of January 1942 Place here by Barnsley RAFAs & Pogmoor RBL And by public donation 1986 |
Additional Details
On 6 January 1942 Armstrong Whitworth Whitley mk V of 102 Squadron, serial number Z9289 set off from its base at RAF Dalton, North Yorkshire about 10 miles south-west of Thirsk. The aircraft was airborne at 04:24 to attack the mighty German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in Brest harbour. It was part of a force of 154 aircraft, mainly Vickers Wellingtons that were dispatched to attack naval targets in the French port. The two-engine Whitley turned back over Cherbourg after the starboard engine failed. Having made significant progress back to base the aircraft suffered a fire in the unserviceable engine whilst 12 miles south of Sheffield. The pilot, Sgt Hollingworth ordered the crew to bail out and then kept the aircraft as straight as he could to allow this. Although all other four crew members managed to abandon the aircraft Sergeant Buchanan bailed out on the south side of West Road and his parachute failed to deploy correctly and he was killed when it became entangled with the destructor tower on the Corporation tip. The pilot was committed to a forced landing and the aircraft came down in the quarry at 10:10 in the quarry at the rear of Creswell Street, killing Sgt Hollingworth.
Crew
Pilot - Sgt Alex Hollingworth RAAF (4040246) - aged 22 - of Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Queensland. Buried Doncaster (Rose Hill) Cemetery Second Pilot - Sgt John Toker Clough Hazledine RAFVR (903565). Uninjured. Observer - Sgt E A Brain RCAF - Uninjured. Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Alexander Gibson Buchanan RCAF (R/58102) - aged 23 - of North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. Buried Rose Hill Cemetery, Doncaster. Air Gunner - Sgt Leonard Jackson RAFVR (938013), of Tyseley, Birmingham. Slightly injured. Notes John Hazledine was killed just 20 days later, on 26th January 1942, when he was flying as second pilot in Whitley Z9283 which was lost without trace on an operation to Emden, Germany. He was 21 years old and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Leonard Jackson was also to die before the year was out. He was killed on 24th September 1942 whilst flying with 102 Squadron in Halifax DT517 on an operation to Flensburg, Germany. He is buried Kiel War Cemetery, Germany and was 26 years old. |