The moor was the scene of an air crash during the Second World War. At 4:10 a.m. on 11 February 1940, a Hudson aircraft took off from Thornaby airfield, to search for German minesweepers operating off the Danish coast. Five minutes later the plane crashed on Easby Moor, killing three of the four crewmen and injuring the fourth. As ice had formed on the wings, the aircraft failed to gain sufficient height to clear the hill. The aircraft ploughed through a larch plantation before coming to rest. The gap in the plantation corresponds exactly with the Hudson's wingspan of 65.5 feet.