CAPTAIN: DEVERILL
LANCASTER P-PETER - JB243
Crashed at Graveley, killing 6 of the crew, 1 survivor.
CREW
Pilot: S/L Ernest Alfred Deverill
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Docking (St Mary) Churchyard, Norfolk
Flight Engineer: F/S Alexander Russell
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Epsom Cemetery
Navigator: P/O John Thomas Brown
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Belfast (Dundonald) Cemetery
Bomb Aimer: F/S Francis Roy Farr
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Windsor Cemetery
W/Op: F/S Ralph Crossgrove
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Cambridge City Cemetery
Mid-Upper Gunner: W/O James Benbow
Severely injured 17-Dec-43
Rear Gunner: W/O Donald Jamieson Penfold
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Worthing (Durrington) Cemetery
LANCASTER P-PETER - JB243
Crashed at Graveley, killing 6 of the crew, 1 survivor.
CREW
Pilot: S/L Ernest Alfred Deverill
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Docking (St Mary) Churchyard, Norfolk
Flight Engineer: F/S Alexander Russell
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Epsom Cemetery
Navigator: P/O John Thomas Brown
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Belfast (Dundonald) Cemetery
Bomb Aimer: F/S Francis Roy Farr
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Windsor Cemetery
W/Op: F/S Ralph Crossgrove
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Cambridge City Cemetery
Mid-Upper Gunner: W/O James Benbow
Severely injured 17-Dec-43
Rear Gunner: W/O Donald Jamieson Penfold
Killed 17-Dec-43, buried in Worthing (Durrington) Cemetery
DETAILS
At twenty past one in the morning of 17th December 1943 (as recorded on the accident card - there are various timing discrepancies concerning this crash) a Lancaster from 97 Squadron crashed on Graveley airfield itself. It was that of Squadron Leader Ernest Alfred Deverill, who had been posted back only 11 days before from 1660 Conversion Unit at Swinderby, where he had been acting as an instructor. The Berlin op that night was the first raid of his third tour. A highly dedicated man, he had flown so many operations that he could easily have missed this last tour.
27 year old Deverill had once been a "Halton Brat" - that is to say, a pupil of No 1 School of Technical Training at RAF Halton, where apprentices and boys were trained to become technical staff to service and repair aircraft. Deverill had outstanding natural ability, and overcoming all the usual conventions he had remustered as a pilot in 1938. He had flown over a hundred sorties, most of them for Coastal Command, before he once again bucked the norm and became an officer, having worked his way up from the very bottom of the ladder. There is no doubt that he was a superb pilot. For his bravery and persistence he had won the Distinguished Flying Medal, and the Distinguished Flying Cross twice. He was posthumously to be awarded the Air Force Cross.
Deverill had been one of the stars of the early days of 97 Squadron at Woodhall Spa. He was on the famous Augsburg raid of 17th April 1942, when 97 Squadron had garnered a sheaf of honours. A daring and in the event very costly experiment by Harris using the then new Lancasters, the raid had been a daylight operation to Bavaria to wreck the engine assembly shop within the MAN diesel engine factories. The operation was dogged by ill-luck and, though serious damage was done to the factory, only five of the twelve Lancasters reached home. The raid proved once and for all that even the magnificent new Lancasters could not be used in daylight raids. Deverill got his plane back to England only after it had suffered appalling damage. Y-Yorker had been hit in numerous places; it had lost an engine, the hydraulic pipes had been ruptured, the gun turrets put out of action, and at one stage the hydraulic oil caught fire, burning a large part of the fuselage. Y-Yorker was a write-off for any future operations, though it was patched up and used for training at Wigsley until the following year, when it was lost in a training accident over Hertfordshire.
Deverill's aircraft on 16/17 December 1943 had a call-sign of P-Peter. A Public Records Office document, Flying Control Historical Record - Graveley, gives an account of the night of 16th/17th December 1943 and the last moments of a P-Peter. No Squadron is given but it must be Deverill's plane as it was the only one of the crashes at Graveley that night which occurred on the actual airfield itself. The account, in its very terseness and brevity, conveys only too strongly the horrors of that night:
Deverill had been one of the stars of the early days of 97 Squadron at Woodhall Spa. He was on the famous Augsburg raid of 17th April 1942, when 97 Squadron had garnered a sheaf of honours. A daring and in the event very costly experiment by Harris using the then new Lancasters, the raid had been a daylight operation to Bavaria to wreck the engine assembly shop within the MAN diesel engine factories. The operation was dogged by ill-luck and, though serious damage was done to the factory, only five of the twelve Lancasters reached home. The raid proved once and for all that even the magnificent new Lancasters could not be used in daylight raids. Deverill got his plane back to England only after it had suffered appalling damage. Y-Yorker had been hit in numerous places; it had lost an engine, the hydraulic pipes had been ruptured, the gun turrets put out of action, and at one stage the hydraulic oil caught fire, burning a large part of the fuselage. Y-Yorker was a write-off for any future operations, though it was patched up and used for training at Wigsley until the following year, when it was lost in a training accident over Hertfordshire.
Deverill's aircraft on 16/17 December 1943 had a call-sign of P-Peter. A Public Records Office document, Flying Control Historical Record - Graveley, gives an account of the night of 16th/17th December 1943 and the last moments of a P-Peter. No Squadron is given but it must be Deverill's plane as it was the only one of the crashes at Graveley that night which occurred on the actual airfield itself. The account, in its very terseness and brevity, conveys only too strongly the horrors of that night:
"At 2110 ... Graveley was told to stand by for diversions. The Drem lighting was switched on at 2257 and a visitor was landed. Just after midnight four aircraft were overhead and one of them crashed N.E. of the airfield. At 0016 W-William landed. J-Jig, D-Dog, R-Roger, H-How and O-Orange were stacked overhead. R. H. and O. had been given permission to land but nothing happened ...
There was no fog [as yet] below the cloud, but Group ordered Fido to be lit as a marker, and while it was being lit H-How landed safely. Then Y-Yorker came up on radio but two-way contact could not be established. At 0051 P-Peter and J-Jig were instructed to divert to Wyton and Warboys as it was thought that conditions were better there. C-Charlie said he had only 15 minutes petrol left, he was told to go to Warboys.
At 0057 an aircraft crashed to the West of the airfield, then S-Sugar was told to go to Warboys. Meanwhile P-Peter returned saying "There's no future at Wyton, can I have a crack at your Fido?" He approached almost at right angles to the runway. Just as it looked as if he was going to touch down he opened up and then his engines cut and he crashed into the bomb dump and burst into flames ...
While all this was happening S-Sugar said he could not get in at Warboys so he was told to stand by as another aircraft was landing. At 0151 it was reported that two aircraft flying at about 20 feet had crashed North of the airfield. The wing tip of one hit a haystack."
At 0057 an aircraft crashed to the West of the airfield, then S-Sugar was told to go to Warboys. Meanwhile P-Peter returned saying "There's no future at Wyton, can I have a crack at your Fido?" He approached almost at right angles to the runway. Just as it looked as if he was going to touch down he opened up and then his engines cut and he crashed into the bomb dump and burst into flames ...
While all this was happening S-Sugar said he could not get in at Warboys so he was told to stand by as another aircraft was landing. At 0151 it was reported that two aircraft flying at about 20 feet had crashed North of the airfield. The wing tip of one hit a haystack."
Thanks to the fire party and the armament crews, the blaze on Deverill's Lancaster was quickly brought under control, preventing a catastrophic ignition of the bomb dump. When the rescue team finally got into the aircraft, they found only one man alive, Warrant Officer James Benbow, the mid-upper gunner. He was taken from Graveley SSQ direct to RAF Hospital Ely, suffering from second degree burns of his face and hands, and compound fractures of the tibia and fibula.
P-Peter had run out of fuel just as they were about to land. Deverill, aware that he was nearly out of petrol, had gambled on coming in at the correct angle. The approach was wrong, and at the very moment which he tried to correct the mistake, his petrol ran out and the engines cut. Of all the terrible incidents on that night, this seemed the most tragic and unjust. Bourn's departing Commanding Officer, Group Captain Fresson, was to particularly remember Deverill and this crash and to say of it many years later, "I have always thought that this was the worst of bad luck".
No photos of the crew apart from Deverill
CREW: Ernest Alfred Deverill, Alexander Russell, John Thomas Brown, Francis Roy Farr, Ralph Crossgrove, James Benbow, Donald Jamieson Penfold
The Pathfinder Year - 97 Squadron at Bourn
