Is it a Lancaster?

Close but no cigar… It’s a Handley Page Halifax MkII

 

Built at the same time as the more famous Avro Lancaster, it shared several design features including twin tail fins and early versions of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines (better known for powering the Spitfire).  

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The connection between the Halifax and Hunsworth is an event that occurred in the village of the same name in West Yorkshire on Boxing Day 1943.

 

JB788 from 35 (Pathfinder) Squadron, piloted by Australian Flying Officer Thomas (Tom) E Scotland DFC (Pictured), aged just 20 years old, crashed following an engine failure. After ensuring his other crew members had safely bailed out, Tom used his skills and courage to avoid all buildings and crash land in a small field just outside the village. His efforts protected the lives and property of the residents and his crew. While the plane was destroyed, the injured pilot and his crew members survived.

 

Tom returned to the site in 1986, forty-three years after the event. That visit sparked him to write a series of books that included the events around the crash "Voice from the Stars; a Pathfinders Story” 

 

His son (John) returned to the site in 2013  and unveiled a memorial to his father's efforts (pictured)

 

This event along with its association with the village seemed a fitting icon for our business.