On 14th February 1944, Cyril and another instructor were training two crews from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Taking off from RAF Longtown on the Solway Firth, their Halifax got into difficulties and crashed. There were no survivors. The surviving evidence makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact location of the crash site. The official log simply states that it crashed in the Solway Firth ‘off Kirkbride’. However, eyewitness testimony points to it having crash landed in the Moricambe Bay area or the adjacent marshland by the estuary of the River Waver.

Very little of the Halifax was recovered at the time and much of it still lies under the mud and sand. The aircraft, known by its serial number as BB278, was one of a batch of 200 Halifax IIs delivered to the RAF between January 1942 and April 1943. It had been used by No 58 Squadron to hunt German U-boats before being used for training purposes. Halifax IIs were not the most straightforward of aircraft to fly and several were lost in accidents.

The fate of Cyril Ballard’s aircraft remained largely a mystery until 2010 when it came to light that a local resident might have witnessed the crash. The eyewitness, a young boy at the time, stated that he had seen an aircraft crash land in the Border Marsh area by the estuary leading into Moricambe Bay. If this is testimony is true, this may well have been Cyril Ballard’s Halifax. The young boy, together with his grandmother and her neighbour, had set out on what was “a bright clear day” to gather kindling. Suddenly:

“… we were aware of an aircraft hitting the ground a short distance away. It landed on the other side of an estuary, approximately 200 yards from where we were, and came to rest parallel to the edge of the marsh with the fuselage about 6-8 feet from the drop of approximately 5 feet to the water level. I assume the aircraft glided down to the marsh because I was not aware of any engine sounds. Having landed with its undercarriage up, the body was tilted over with the port wing sloping down into the water. There seemed to be a hole in the starboard wing near to the outer engine, I could see liquid pouring down the wing towards the fuselage. Just then, the door on the port side opened and a number of people jumped out and began running towards the tailplane. As the leading figure reached the end of the aircraft there was an almighty ‘woosh’ and everything was enveloped in flames. For a brief second, I could hear shouts of pain, then everything went quiet. At that point, my grandmother covered my ears and turned me away and we returned home to the Border Cottages. At the time of the crash, I was 6 years old but some parts of what I saw are still clear in my mind today.

Many years later, I saw an article in my local newspaper about wartime crashes in this area. I contacted the writer and related my story to him; he said the aircraft in question must have been a Halifax II No BB278 based at RAF Longtown and was flying with a double crew of RCAF airmen. During the last few years, I have seen more reports and stories relating to the crash of BB278, some of the details quoted differ from what I saw. One report has the aircraft coming down in the sea off Silloth, one or two miles away. Another states, “the aircraft was on fire and crashed into the sea in Morecambe Bay”, a simple mistake, this should have read Moricambe Bay approximately 80 miles further north. Recently I took someone down to show him where I remember the crash site to be. He marked the position on an OS map and our estimated co-ordinates are NY171543’.

Whilst the crash site may have been identified, the reason why the aircraft got into difficulties remains a mystery. However, the reminiscences of another Halifax II bomber pilot Flying Officer Alan Henry Baskerville of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) might offer a clue:

“I found the Mark 2 (Halifax II) to be heavy and cumbersome. It had an intricate fuel system, which necessitated extreme care in changing from one tank to another (there were 12-15 fuel tanks)—pull the toggles in the wrong sequence and one or more engines would stop with possible disastrous consequences. There had recently been crashes at RAF Lindholme and at its satellite station RAF Sandtoft.

The drill that was therefore adopted was for the Flight Engineer, whom we acquired at this stage of our training, to say to the pilot, “Skipper, I am about to change tanks.” The pilot would then ask him to rehearse exactly what he was going to do and the sequence in which he was going to do it. Satisfied that he was doing it correctly they would then talk each other through step by step and feel very pleased with themselves that the engines were still running when it was all over.”

If our eyewitness to the event is correct this could explain why the engines of Cyril Ballard’s plane made no sound before it crash-landed. The complete loss of power gave the pilot little chance of reaching one of the three airfields adjacent to Moricambe Bay and forced him to land on the nearest available level ground. The pilot showed great skill in making the ‘wheels up’ landing but unfortunately it did not prove enough to avert the tragedy which was unfolding. With the airmen escaping from the stricken Halifax, the fuel leaking from the aircraft caught fire. Cyril and the thirteen other airmen on board died in the resulting inferno – he was 23-years old and had been married just eight months.

JL-Aug23

Sources

1.Military Funeral at Kirkheaton; Huddersfield Examiner, Sat.26th February 1944

2.460 Squadron – Bomber Command WW2 (website with reminiscences of Flying Officer Alan Henry Baskerville (RAAF)

3.Air Crashes in the Lake District by M. J. Hirst

4.Historic England Research Records – Wreck of aircraft BB278 Handley Page Halifax II