Airmen's remains moved from North Yorkshire crash site, inquest hears

Remains of RAF officer Alfred Robert William Milne and his navigator Eric Stubbs, both 22, were found on a remote farm near Chop Gate by a family investigating a blocked septic tank in 2020.

Both men died during a 'top secret' military mission when their Mosquito aircraft came down on hills at Bransdale, near Helmsley, in the North York Moors in October 1944.

The RAF sent a salvage crew to the crash site as the plane was carrying a prototype 'Highball' bomb designed by Barnes Wallis, of Dam Busters fame, which was recovered without detonating.

But despite both men supposedly being buried with full military honours, their bones were found around an hour's walk from the crash site in North Yorkshire in February 2020.

The discovery sparked a joint police and MoD investigation and they were identified by forensic experts and DNA matches.

A man in his 70s was arrested at the time, but was eventually released without charge.

Appletree Hurst Cottage, where the bones were found, was once the home of Kenneth Ward, a collector of Second World War memorabilia.

Although the cottage is in a poor condition and currently uninhabited, the adjoining farmhouse was sold to new owners who discovered the bones.

The inquest into their deaths heard how the family went into a next door paddock to check their shared septic tank, when they spotted a bone.

Eric Alan Stubbs, left, and Alfred Robert William Milne, right. Pictures: SWNS

One of them, a medical professional, recognised it as a human jawbone and called police.

Two lower mandibles were confirmed by forensic archaeologists to date from before 1950.

And pre-emptive dental work performed by the RAF on servicemen flying at high altitude was noted in teeth.

There was evidence of impact injuries and discolouration from contact with a helmet or chinstrap. Fragments from a harness were located nearby, the inquest heard.

It was established that the bones had been moved from the original crash site and had been exposed to the elements for a prolonged period.

Forensic archaeologist Dr Carl Harrison confirmed that the remains were classed as a 'secondary deposition' and had been moved from another place.

The plane was originally thought to have crashed when, flying in low visibility, the pilot spotted high ground too late.

But coroner Richard Watson heard a local farm worker nearby had witnessed the engines spluttering before the crash, suggesting a mechanical failure or shortage of fuel.

Ken Luck, then a young man, told military historian Richard Allenby what he had seen when the Mosquito was destroyed on October 11, 1944, the inquest heard.

• Inquest opens into death of man in plane crash during war

The bouncing bomb that it was carrying to a weapons exercise in Scotland bounced into Luck’s orchard, but did not detonate and the RAF later retrieved it.

Coroner Richard Watson concluded a mechanical failure or fuel shortage had actually caused the crash and recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Alfired Milne was born in London in 1921 and worked as a post officer sorter before enlisting in 1941.

He was posted to Canada and rose through the ranks, eventually commissioning as a pilot officer and marrying his wife just a year before he died.

They had no children, but he was survived by his sister and nephews.

Eric Stubbs, born in 1922 in Guildford, was not married and ‘disappeared’ from his family tree after the war when his sister also died childless.

He worked as a local government clerk before the war.

The inquest was attended by Joan and Nicola Stubbs, who are descended from a cousin.