Whitley T4136 near Ebberston.
On the 26th of October 1940 this Whitley was returning from Ops to Stettin, to bomb an oil refinery at Politz (although a Scarborough ARP
report sourced quotes Cuxhaven as the target). The aircraft had set out from Linton on Ouse at 17.27hrs. It was hit by flak over the
German coast the aircraft began to have trouble in one engine. Here the exact events are not known but it is thought the crew turned back to England.
On one good engine they would have struggled back to Northern England but on arrival they were unable
to work out their position to be able to land back at base after descending to 1000 feet. The pilot turned the
aircraft around and made for the coast whilst climbing to 6000 feet where upon the one good engine began to splutter.
The order to bale out was given and all the crew survived the jump. Sgt Livesey was reported to have landed close to a
search light site at Harwood Dale, so presumably the aircraft came back in over the coast north of Scarborough when the order
to bale out was given. Other crew members landed at Scalby, Hackness and further in land at Allerston, where it is assumed the
pilot landed being closest to the crash site and assuming he was last to leave. The aircraft crashed into a small field just
south of Ebberston and part of the wreckage caught fire. Locals recall a wing overhanging the Scarborough to Pickering railway line.
Following this incident P/O Crawford was
relieved of his duties of captaining bomber aircraft for a period after the loss; one presumes that his superiors
thought he should have been able to land the aircraft without having to totally destroy it in the manner described above.
In August 2009 a further twist occured to this story when during a licenced dig at the crash site to recover parts for the Whitley
Project's rebuild project a 500 lb bomb was found in the field, this suggests that the crew had known that bombs was hung-up and
would not be too inclined to try and land their aircraft incase this bomb/bombs fell out during so. Although purely conjecture it is possible that
the damaged engine may have resulted in the aircraft loosing its hydraulics, thus preventing the bomb doors opening. If so this would explain why the bomb could not
be released or jettisoned over the Sea as was normal and why the crew did not want to belly land a fully bombed Whitley. Sadly no official report
makes any mention of this and had it done so then it is doubtful that an MoD licence to dig the site would have been granted.
Whitley T4136 was built to contract 38599/39 by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and delivered directly to 102 Sqdn at Driffield
in August 1940, It moved with the unit to Leeming on 25th August 1940 then on to Prestwick on 1st September 1940 before arriving at
Linton on 10th October 1940. It was written off in the incident detailed above with Cat.W/Burnt damage being recorded.
Pilot - P/O Jack S G Crawford RAF (42197), aged 19, of Harrow, Middlesex - ok.
2nd Pilot - P/O Edward R Osborn RAF (43644), aged 21, of Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand - ok.
Obs - Sgt Walter Livesey RAF (524173) - ok.
WOp - Sgt George E West RAF (620494), aged 24, of Gipsyville, Hull - ok.
Air Gunner - Sgt R Adams RAF - ok.
Edward Read Osborn (pictured above). Just over a month after the Ebberston incident, on 28th November 1940, P/O Osborn, Sgt Livesey and Sgt West were part of a crew flying
Whitley P5077 DY-B, also of 102 Sqdn, from Topcliffe. The aircraft left Topcliffe never to be seen again, probably crashing into the sea on Ops to Le Havre.
The crew of five are listed on the Runnymede Memorial.
The corner of the field where Whitley T4136 crashed.
Two peices located on the surface with part numbers proving them to have been from a Whitley.
As already stated, during the licensed dig a live 500lb bomb was dug up. A large scale evacuation of Ebberston and Allerston was carried
out two days later as the bomb was detonated by RAF Bomb Disposal from Wittering. This incident is of interest to my wifes family, her parents, grandmother and god-parents
were some of those to be evacuated. In the days after this controlled explosion a further search was carried out by the Wittering team but no further explosives were found.
Parts of the aircraft were recovered during this military search and passed to the Whitley Project.
Following the bomb being discovered a number of local newspapers used my account in their press reports.
All the information shown here is
believed to be correct and written in good faith. With the events being well documented locally should
there be any persons who are able to correct or add anything to this story I would like to here from them.
F/Lt Crawford was also to loose his life before the War ended. On 15th March 1944 Lancaster LM392 of 550 Sqdn which he was captaining
crashed near Artolschein, Bas-Rhein in France after being shot down by an enemy night fighter. The whole of his new crew were killed
and were buried in the local cemetery. By the time of his death he was married to Pauline May Crawford.
Through talking to locals in Ebberston the aircraft came down just to the west of the modern-day plant centre at the
southern edge of the village. Elliott Smock of The Whitley Project carried out a licenced dig at the site
in August 2009 but prior to that myself, along with Albert Pritchard, Ken Reast and Dick Barton visited in January 2009 and
located a number of peices at the edge of the field to confirm the location in the field.
I would like to thank the farmer where the aircraft came down, Mr Craggs of Ebberston, for allowing this initial visit and for
the information he was good enough to provide which allowed the search to be made easier.