Whitley N1375 hit by flak, returned to Driffield airfield.
On the night of 11th / 12th May 1940 102 Squadron were undertaking Ops to Munchengladbach, this aircraft attacked the marshalling yards on the south west side of the target but
sustained flak damage to the tail of the aircraft. The crew were able to return safely to Driffield and land without further incident at 02.50hrs having taken off at 20.30hrs the
previous evening. The aircraft was later repaired.
Pilot - F/Sgt Edgar Louis Graham Hall RAF (564838), of Kitty Moor, Norland, Halifax, Yorkshire.
Second Pilot - P/O L Miller.
? - Sgt C M B Coughlan.
? - LAC J McCutcheon.
? - LAC A H J Turner RAF (567326).
F/Sgt Hall and LAC McCutcheon were flying in Whitley N1376 which was shot down on Ops to Gelsenkirchen on 19th / 20th May 1940, after being hit by flak the crew were able to abandon
safely and all became POW's and the aircraft crashed near Goch, Germany. F/Sgt Hall was later awarded an MBE on return to the UK after the war for his "activities" whilst a POW. The
citation for this award was Gazetted on 6th September 1946, it reads.. "Warrant Officer Hall was captured near Goch in May 1940, after his aircraft had crashed, and he was imprisoned
in various camps in Germany. During his captivity he carried out the work of Senior non-commissioned officer in three different camps; he also served on various Escape Committees,
organising and assisting in several tunnelling operations. In May 1942, he and a companion jumped from a moving train whilst being transferred to Stalag VIIIB (Sagan). They walked
most of the night and next day but were recaptured three miles beyond Frankfurt. Warrant Officer Hall and another left a column during a halt in April 1945, intending to wait for
Allied troops, but they were recaptured four days later."
LAC McCutcheon was awarded the DFM though notification of it probably came through while he was a PoW.
Whitley N1375 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd at Baginton and was awaiting collection in September 1939, it was then delivered into MU storage. Two months later it was issued to 102 Squadron at Driffield when the unit began to re-equip with Whitley MkV's, having operated Whitley MkIII's for a year. On 11th/12th May 1940 it was slightly damaged on Ops and Cat.M/FB damage was recorded following inspection at Driffield. It was repaired on site by a team from Marshall's, of Cambridge, who were permanently based at Driffield purely for the purpose of battle damage repair of Whitley's. It was slightly damaged by flak again on 14th / 15th June 1940 and was repaired at Driffield. On the night of 20th / 21st June 1940 it was belly landed at Manston on return from Ops to Ludwigshafen after sustaining flak damage.
It was probably repaired on site and again returned to 102 Squadron. It moved around with them over the following months. On 25th August 1940 it moved with the
unit to Leeming, on 1st September 1940 to Prestwick, on 10th October 1940 to Linton on Ouse and on 15th November 1940 to Topcliffe. In early 1941 the aircraft was transferred to
RAE Farnborough for trial work and remained there until 15th March 1942 when it was transferred to 24 OTU at Honeybourne when the unit formed. On 12th February 1944 it sustained
Cat.E2/FA when it collided on landing with Whitley Z6673 at Honeybourne.