Francis Aubrey's Story.
Francis Bell was born on 4th January 1912 on Prince Edward Island to parents Arthur and Winnifred. He worked as an accountant until he enlisted in the RCAF at Moncton NB on 29th September 1942. Following training as a navigator he arrived in UK on 11th April 1944 and trained on bombers at 82 OTU from 20th June 1944 until 9th September 1944 when he was transferred to 1659 CU at RAF Topcliffe for conversion to Halifax bombers. On 22nd October 1944 he was killed when the plane he was flying in crashed in Cumbria whilst on a training flight.The Accident
Halifax LL505 crashed on Great Carrs in the Lake District on the night of 22nd October 1944 while the crew were undertaking a night navigation exercise flying from Topcliffe in Yorkshire with 1659 Heavy Conversion Unit. The crew; seven Canadians and one Scot, took off from Topcliffe at 14.05hrs and the flight plan would have seen them navigate to various turning points in the UK before returning to land back at base on completion of the training exercise. By 18.56hrs the crew had encountered very thick cloud whilst over the north-west of England and they became hopelessly lost. They made a series of radio transmissions including a "Darky" message beginning at 18.56hrs that were picked up on the ground. Upon receiving the "Darky" Topcliffe Flying Control transmitted instructions including a bearing fly to locate Topcliffe and a height to remain above to clear high ground. Half an hour later the crew were still struggling and were informed to climb to a safe height of 4,000ft and to orbit the area they were flying over. Topcliffe Flying Control made a request to Church Fenton airfield that a Mosquito be scrambled to assist the Halifax crew. A first 307 Squadron Mosquito ("A-165") flown by P/O Jerzy Nowakowski and F/O Emil Sluszkiewicz was despatched at 19.50hrs, the Mosquito would have probably been equipped with the latest night-fighting direction finding equipment and with the Halifax presumably being only one in the area the Mosquito crew were homed to it with the aim of guiding the Halifax crew to make a safe landing. The Mosquito crew were successful in locating the Halifax but literally as they located it they witnessed it crash on Great Carrs. The first Mosquito landed at Church Fenton at 21.10hrs. A second Mosquito ("N-113") took off at 22.05hrs and landed back at Church Fenton at 22.55hrs. What appears to have happened is that instead of climbing the crew descended so they could get a visual fix on the ground but by this stage it was flying too low in the heart of the Lake District. The aircraft hit a sloping grass and rock strewn fellside near to the top of Great Carrs while flying in roughly from the west and sadly all on board were killed. The Court of Enquiry blamed the accident on Francis for poor navigation and the pilot for not maintaining the safety height as instructed by Ground Control. Francis was buried at Blacon Cemetery in Chester.A memorial cairn and plaque have been erected near the crash site.
Reference
https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/lakes/ll505.html
Crew Members
Pilot - F/O John Armstrong Johnston RCAF (C/29783), aged 27. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
Navigator - F/O Francis Aubrey Bell RCAF (J/39888), aged 33. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
Bomb Aimer - P/O Robert Newton Whitley RCAF (J/38243), aged 20. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
Flight Engineer - Sgt William Brisbane Ferguson RAFVR (1826294), aged 19. Buried New Monkland Cemetery, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Calvin George Whittingstall RCAF (R/198207), aged 20. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
Air Gunner - Sgt Donald Fraser Titt RCAF (R/271259), aged 19. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
Air Gunner - Sgt George Riddoch RCAF (R/259938), aged 20. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
Flight Engineer - Sgt Harvey Ellsworth Pyche RCAF (R/225354), aged 21. Buried Blacon Cemetery, Chester.
Bell's service record
Accident Form 1
Accident Form 2
Accident Form 3
LL505 crew Bell is second from right
Memorial Cairn near crash site
Memorial Plaque
Canadian newspaper article
Enquiry 1
Enquiry 2
Enquiry 3
Enquiry 4
Enquiry 5 questions Francis's navigation skills
307 Squadron ORB details flights by Mosquitoes to assist LL505
Research by Steve Merrill