Tadeusz Jan Bieganski

30/31 January 1942 Wellington N2848 18 OTU. Took off from RAF Bramcote on a night time cross-country training flight over the north of England. Flying over Yorkshire they were met with heavy falling snow and poor visibility, they eventually became lost in the Skipton area and around the same time the effects of icing conditions occurred on the aircraft's surfaces which would have made controlling it difficult.

Many pilots opted to descend when they were lost in poor visibility to try and drop below the cloud or weather and try and get a visual fix on their position. Doing this was against flying regulations because of the dangers of being over high ground when loosing height, it is
possible that this occurred in case of this aircraft and with the aircraft flying over Upper Wharfedale there was little space to descend before the aircraft would hit the ground. Descending could also reduce the icing effects but also the aircraft may have lost height because of partial loss of control by the pilot.

The aircraft struck the ground near to a wall running along the summit ridge of Buckden
Pike and broke up onto a snow covered grassy slope, it passed through a dry stone wall before coming to a halt pretty much on the summit ridge. The rear turret broke off during the crash and this probably saved Jozef Fusniak the rear gunner's life.

Before setting out to seek help he check the other members of his crew and found one of them to be still alive, after making him comfortable he set off to find help. While making his way down from the hill he found a set of fox footprints in the snow which he followed, eventually these footprints took him down to the small village of Cray where he
sought help. He was found by Cray resident 'Nanny' Parker who was out tending to her hens and noticed a strange shape in the snow, she went to investigate and found what turned out to be the surviving airman.

By the time help arrived at the crash site the seriously injured airmen who had initially survived the crash had died. The entry in the Unit ORB stated that the survivor showed
"great fortitude and determination in his efforts."

In May 1942 he was presented with the British Empire Medal for his bravery.

F/Lt Czeslaw Kujawa
P/O Jerzy Polczyk
F/O Tadeusz Jan Bieganski
Sgt Jan Sadowski
Sgt Jan Andrzej Tokarzewski - All killed.
Sgt Jozef Fusniak - Broken left ankle. - See extra information

Jozef Fusniak would later complete his training and be posted to 301 Squadron. On 21st / 22nd July 1942 he was flying in Wellington Z1406 on an operational flight to Duisburg when the aircraft was hit by flak and exploded over Holland. He had a lucky escape when his turret was blown off and he was able to deploy his parachute. Again, he was the only survivor from the aircraft and after trying to avoid capture he was eventually caught on the Dutch / German boarder and was later taken to the Lamsdorf POW camp. Before his release from captivity he survived the infamous Lamsdorf death march. He died in July 2017 in Cambridge at the age of ninety five.