On 1943-09-28, S/L A. Ross Dawson, a Technical Officer with HCU 1664 at Croft, wrote in his diary: "Well I had the feeling something was going to happen. I was wakened up at 4:00 am this morning with the flying control Sgt worrying about "S" for Sugar which hadn't returned & was 3 hours over due. Reports had been received about a crashed aircraft down near Marston Moor . . . at noon we got word that the one crashed aircraft that had been found was a Lancaster so ours was still missing . . . At five o'clock we finally got word of it. It had crashed somewhere down in the Cleveland Hills just east of York, four killed & two badly injured. I didn't think any plane could crash in England without somebody seeing it." The following day, "W/C and I went down to the crash after first visiting the two lads in hospital in Northallerton . . . From the W/ops story it seems they were flying along normally about 1600 ft just below the cloud base. However the barometer had dropped over 200 ft while they were away & the pilot apparently had neglected to correct for this so actually they were only at 400 ft & hit the top of one of the highest hills in the dark - 7 minutes after midnight. When he next woke up, dawn was just breaking so he crawled out of his part of the wreckage & not being able to walk, crawled over to another part of the fuselage picking up an open parachute on the way, wrapped himself up in it & quietly passed out again. A shepherd in the moors reported seeing a fire in the hills shortly after midnight and an army search party had finally found the crash at 1:00 pm the next afternoon â€" it is remarkable that even two were still alive after 13 hours."

"After negotiating several terrific hills & paths we finally arrived at the wreck. What a mess it was lying way up in the towering hills forming part of the famous and desolate Yorkshire Moors. We could see where the plane had come up a narrow twisting valley with towering cliffs on each side. How he got as far as he did is more than I can tell. Anyway he pranged on the flat top of the hill across the end of the valley. Just 25 more feet & he'd have been OK since there wasn't a tree in sight but as it was, he was going full out & wreckage was strewn in a wide swath for almost a half mile. I never saw such a wreck nor realised that so many bits and pieces could come off a kite as it slithered along. The place where the W/Op had been sitting was just a crumpled up mass & I don't know how he got out alive . . . There was also a dead sheep with all four feet in the air who never knew what hit him. We spent all afternoon up there sorting out bits and pieces & salvaging a few items . . . also some secret equipment which could not be left lying around there." On October 3, 1943, he "went down and answered a few questions under oath at the court of enquiry they are holding for S."

Diary of A Ross Dawson, courtesy CWM