Date:	Saturday 24 March 1945
Time:	01:43 LT
Type:	Avro Lancaster B Mk I
Owner/operator:	1666 (Mohawk) HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit), RAF
Registration:	ND656
MSN:	BL-R
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 7
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Wombleton, Helmsley, Ryedale, North Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Taxi
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wombleton, Helmsley, Ryedale, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:	RAF Wombleton, Helmsley, Ryedale, North Yorkshire

Narrative:
Avro Lancaster B. Mk. I ND656/BL-R, 1666 (Mohawk) HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit), RAF. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 24 March 1945 when undercarriage collapsed while taxying at RAF Wombleton, Helmsley, Ryedale, North Yorkshire. All seven crew on board survived uninjured.

On the night of 23rd/24th March 1945, 1666 (Mohawk) Heavy Conversion Unit supplied five Lancasters and crews to undertake diversionary "sweepstake" operational flights across France while the main Bomber Command force of No.5 Group Lancasters and No.8 Group Mosquitoes flew a bombing raid on Wesel, Germany. The purpose of the diversionary flights was to try fool the German forces into believing that another raid was taking place elsewhere from the main raid and then to divert German resources between the real raid and the diversionary ones.

This Lancaster was crewed by airmen coming to the end of their training at 1666 (Mohawk) Heavy Conversion Unit and who were soon to be posted to an operational squadron and this would also serve as good operational experience for them. They were the last of the five to take off from Wombleton on 23rd March 1945 at 18.36hrs. This Lancaster and the other four 1666 HCU aircraft were instructed to use a series of turning points for the flight which appear to have been Base-Reading-Hastings-Calais-Metz-Saarbrucken-Thionville-Abbeville-Reading-return to base.

After crossing the English Channel, the route effectively took them pretty much in a south-easterly route from Calais down the North-Eastern French border to Saarbrucken and then returning in a slightly more direct route to the English Channel. The route was flown and they landed without incident back at base (RAF Wombleton) at 01.43hrs.

The aircraft was then taxied to a dispersal point on the edge of the airfield and two minutes after landing while the crew were making their closing down checks the flight engineer's harness straps caught on the aircraft's undercarriage lever. Without him or the pilot realising the lever was shifted and the wheels then folded up damaging the aircraft when it sank onto its belly. The damage was initially assessed as being Cat. B but it was later re-assessed as Cat. E and written off.

The crew were posted to 434 (Bluenose) Squadron RCAF on 31st March 1945 with their training at 1666 HCU complete and they managed to complete a few operational flights before the end of the war some five weeks later.

Crew of Lancaster ND656 on 24 March 1945
Pilot - Pilot Officer Frederick William Cash RCAF (J/93092)
Navigator - Flying Officer G. E. Jones RCAF (J/42763)
Bomb Aimer - Flying Officer D. L. Summers RCAF (J/43939).
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner - Flight Sergeant H. Nodelman RCAF (R/193780)
Air Gunner - Sergeant Gordon R Dickie RCAF (R/28811)
Air Gunner - Sergeant Rodney W Chidley RCAF (R/290440)
Flight Engineer - Sergeant Christopher Walter Skilbeck RAFVR (1623911)

All seven crew on board Lancaster ND656 survived the war (as far as is known without any further incidents) and at least two of them are known to have lived long lives:

Rodney Chidley (Air Gunner) was born in 1924. After the War he worked for over thirty years for Lyon's Tea and then Cadbury's Beverages. He died in June 2009 in St. Catharine's, Ontario aged 85

Christopher Skilbeck (Flight Engineer) was probably born in London on 2 March 1922, married Gladys Brown in Romford in 1944 and died in Chelmsford, Essex in October 1999 aged 77.

Brief History of Lancaster ND656
Built by A V Roe & Co Ltd to Contrct Ac/1607
04-03-1944: Taken on charge when delivered to RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire
16-03-1944: Issued to 460 Squadron, RAAF at RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire
15-07-1944: Transferred to 103 Squadorn, RAF, at Elsham Wolds
29-07-1944: Catergory B Damaged in operational service. Withdrawn from use for repairs
02-10-1944: Notified as awating collection after completion of repairs
16-10-1944: Returned to RAF charge at 38 MU RAF Llandow
29-11-1944: Issued to 1666 (Mohawk) HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit), RAF Wombleton, Helmsley, Ryedale, North Yorkshire as 'BL-R'
25-03-1945: Cat.B damage when undercarriage collapsed at RAF Wombleton, Helmsley, Ryedale, North Yorkshire (as per the above)
30-03-1945: Re-Cat.E (FA) and deemed beyond economic repair. Struck off charge.

1. The Lancaster File (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
2. https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/york45/nd656.html
3. 1666 (Mohawk) Heavy Conversion Unit RCAF Operational Record Book (Record of Events for the period 1 to 31 March 1945): National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/614
4. Aircraft Movement Card (Air Ministry Form AM.78): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-78s/Lancaster/ND625-ND684/mobile/index.html
5. Aircraft Accident Record Card (Air Ministry Form AM.1180): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-1180/Lancaster/1945/March/prt3/3.html
6. Rodney Chidley (1924-2009) Obituary (Toronto Star 1 July 2009): https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/thestar/name/rodney-chidley-obituary?id=45417745
7. Christophe Walter Skilbeck (1922-1990): https://powling.one-name.net/getperson.php?personID=I4905&tree=Powling
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conversion_units_of_the_Royal_Air_Force
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Wombleton#Station_history

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Jan-2025 13:12	Dr. John Smith	Added