Wowee, there's another cracker of a story. Wiley your contributions are fantastic.
Crashing Wellingtons appears to have been not at all uncommon - Phil Smith, pilot of the crew I'm researching, survived at least two that I know of, and witnessed a third at an OTU. He was passing through Lichfield on what I gather was a joyride in September 1941, writing the following in his diary:
We landed and no sooner had we got out of the plane than we saw a Winpy starting to burn on the runway. A very nasty memory, these planes are certainly death traps if they catch alight.
The crash, on 27 September 1941, saw Wellington P9216 take off for dual circuits and landings and at 15.15 after a heavy landing the undercarriage collapsed and the aircraft caught fire. Two crew were on board - Sgt A.H.Ashwood RAFVR was seriously burnt and died later that evening - Fl/Lt F.B.Slade RAFVR went on to become a Flight Commander at 12 Sqdn Wickenby being awarded a DSO but was killed on a raid to Peenemunde on 17th August 1943. Ashwood was the first person to die in an air related accident since the O.T.U was formed in April 1941.
Training, it appears, wasn't much safer than being on operations!!