Whitley P4967 in the field at Nether Silton (photo thought to have come from Brian Rapier's research in the 1970's).
On 3rd September 1940 this Whitley, "J for Johnny", took from Leeming at 20.26hrs to bomb a power transformer plant in Berlin. On its return the aircraft ran low on fuel and the wireless failed, the pilot was forced to make a landing at 06.45hrs in a field near Nether Silton. The aircraft landed with its undercarriage up, in a small field near Hall Farm, Nether Silton, to the south of Osmotherley. The aircraft was written off but the crew escaped injury.
Pilot - F/Lt Dennis Brendon Geoffrey Tomlinson RAF (37989). Uninjured.
Second Pilot - P/O Kenneth Douglass Brant RAF (745247). Uninjured.
Observer - Sgt W O Walters RAF. Uninjured.
Wireless Operator - Sgt P Hughes RAF. Uninjured.
Air Gunner - Sgt Angus J McIntosh RAF (966647). Uninjured.
Another view of the crash site.
Earlier in the War F/Lt Tomlinson was piloting another Whitley when his rear gunner baled out over Germany, the aircraft returned to home. Tomlinson was also to be involved in another incident only weeks later above Thirsk (which is also detailed on this website), this saw two of his then crew being killed. He had been promoted to F/Lt on 3rd September 1940 and later to Acting S/Ldr on 1st September 1941. He was awarded the DFC for service with 10 Squadron on 17th January 1941 and completed his Tour with 10 Squadron and was posted for an instructional role with 10 OTU based at Abingdon. When he was killed on 2nd June 1942 10 OTU were one of a number training units instructed to put up a number of bombers for Ops to Essen on this night. This was the night of the second Thousand Bomber raid. He was pilot of Whitley Z6581 which was shot down by a night fighter to the east of Arnhem and is buried in Gendringen Roman Catholic Cemetery, Holland. He was married to Hannah Tomlinson (who was either local to Abingdon or had gone with him to the airfield). Dennis Tomlinson was twenty six years old.
Sgt McIntosh was later made a PoW after the aircraft he was flying in was damaged over Germany, he was forced to bail out and spent the rest of the War as a PoW at Camp L6, PoW No. 281. The date of this is not known and as a result the exact aircraft has yet to be traced.
P/O Kenneth Brant DFC (81655) was commissioned to P/O on probation on 29th June 1940. His DFC was awarded for service with 10 Squadron and Gazetted in March 1941 but no citation has yet been found. He was sadly killed on 26th June 1941 while flying with 21 OTU at Kinloss in Whitley N1379. almost certainly instructing. The aircraft crashed near Kinloss soon after taking off for a training flight. He is buried in Worthing.
One P A Hughes RAF (33410) is listed as being a PoW when his aircraft was shot down on 8th August 1944. He spent the rest of his War at Camp L3. He may or may not be the same man but given the relative lowness of his service number he is strong possible but no Bomber Command aircraft listed in Chorley's losses books for this date bares his name that I can spot.
Nothing more is known regarding Sgt W O Walters. It is thought he survived the War.
Whitley P4967 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 5th May 1940, it was issued to 10 Squadron who were based at Dishforth at the time afew days later. It was immediately damaged on Ops when it received Cat.M/FB damage on 18th May 1940 on Ops to Bremen whilst bombing an oil storage facilities it was hit by 'flak' and sustained damage to the fabric covering on port aileron and some fuselage damage. The crew returned safely to Dishforth and the pilot on these occasion being S/Ldr R Bickford. The aircraft was repaired and returned to service. It moved with the unit to Leeming on 8th July 1940. In the above incident on 4th September 1940 it received Cat.W/FB damage and was written off.