At 05.00hrs on 9th June 1941 a Whitley crashed into the hillside close to a dis-used quarry above Bank Foot,
Ingleby Greenhow whilst returning from Ops to Dortmund. There were no survivors. The aircraft had taken off from
Dishforth at 22.40hrs the previous night and made up a flight of 37 Whitleys, they were tasked with bombing Dortmund
but bombing was described as poor due to an industrial haze over the target making locating precise bombing targets difficult.
There were no losses over Germany. It is thought that the crew on this aircraft became lost on their return and after flying around
for some time they flew into the hillside flying in a west to east direction in more or less level flight. There were no survivors but it was thought that the rear gunner had already died prior to the aircraft crashing. He was thrown out of the aircraft in the impact.
Whitley Z6663 was built to contract 106962/40 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd at Baginton. It was delivered to 51 Squadron after acceptance in March 1941. It suffered
Cat.E2/FB damage in the above incident.
Pilot - F/Sgt Gordon Stubbs RAFVR (754904), aged 21, of Hathersage. Buried Hathersage, Derbyshire.
Pilot - P/O James R Pertwee RAFVR (60562), aged 24, of Oxhey, Hertfordshire. Buried Dishforth Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Observer - Sgt William C G Roper RAFVR (957053), aged 30, of Leicester. Buried Quarrington, Lincolnshire.
Wireless Operator / Ai Gunner - Sgt Charles F Ranson RAFVR (950534), aged 21, of Ilford. Buried Manor Park Cemetery, Essex.
Rear Gunner - Sgt James Cousins RAF (534871), aged 24, of Stoke Newington, London. Buried Dishforth Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Four of the crews headstones. P/O Pertwee was the brother of Dad's Army actor John Pertwee. James Pertwee was made P/O on probation on 1st February 1941 but with seniority back to 23rd January 1941. It is not yet known whether he had rose through the NCO ranks or whether he trained at Cranwell and came in as an officer.
John Skinn and myself located the crash site thanks to a very detailed description of the site given to me a reader of a
local magazine who I contacted. A sizeable amount of wreckage remains at the site which is in woodland and is now protected
by the Forestry Commission but much of the wreckage was in a poor condition when first found by us. It was clear that a
fire had occured when the aircraft had crashed and alot of molten alloy was found set in the ground and in depressions in rocks.
Since then I have returned a number of times, the photograph above and shows the area where the aircraft
crashed and the photograph below shows the crash site as it was in 2009.
One of a number of Whitley part numbers found at the site in 2009.
After correspondance with the Forestry Commission in 2009, and air historian Lee Norgate
and myself it was stated that the Forestry Commission intended on cutting the trees down
the trees over the crash site. The Forestry Commission in North Yorkshire now have a policy on hand-felling
trees over aircraft crash sites and try their best to protect the surface remains while doing so.
John Skinn and myself re-visited the site in October 2010 to see the damage and what else may
have come to light. Although the site now looks a mess it would have been worse had the trees been felled
using a machine. Some smaller remains of the aircraft were found in up-turned tree stumps including two
.303 bullet cases in reasonable condition.
These two bullets are standard ball ammumition and were made at the Woolwich Arsenal.
A further Whitley part number with a typical "SP" prefix.
