Whitley N1486 near Flixton, Scarborough.
Eleven Whitley's were sent to the Leuna synthetic oil plant at Meresburg on this night, the 17th/18th November 1940. Gelsenkirchen was also
targeted. This aircraft took off at 18.30hrs and is believed to have attacked the Gelsenkirchen target from 10,000 feet. On the
return this aircraft ran low on fuel, a forced landing was made in a field next to the River Hertford near Flixton at 04.25hrs
on the 18th November 1940. The weather was reported to have been poor at the time. The crew were not believed to be seriously injured.
The aircraft may have been damaged by enemy action but details regarding this are not known. It was removed from the field and taken away
by road, repaired in works and flew again.
Pilot - Acting Sub-Lieut Peter John Hoad RN, of Esher, Surrey. Uninjured.
Crew - Names unknown. Uninjured.
Sub Lt Peter Hoad RN was one of a number of Naval pilots on attachment with the RAF in the early stages of the War. He flew as second pilot
to F/O D S Robertson on a number of operational flights and was involved in a crash landing at Linton on Ouse in mid-September 1940
flying as second pilot to another squadron pilot. He was Mentioned in Despatches after his death in August 1941 but had been killed on
27th March 1941 on Ops to Dusseldorf in Whitley Z6470. He is buried in Jonkerbos War Cemetery and was twenty two years old.
Whitley N1486 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 28th January 1940. It was delivered to MU storage
in February 1940 and later issued to 51 Squadron at Dishforth in May 1940 when they converted to Whitley MkV's from MkIV's. 78 Squadron moved into Dishforth on 15th
July 1940 from Linton-on-Ouse and the aircraft was transferred to them. On 4th August 1940 it made a landing in a field near Market Weighton on return from Ops to
Mannheim in poor weather, it was re-fueled on site and flown out. It then sustained Cat.R/FB damage in the incident detailed above and was repaired in works and issued
to 19 OTU at Kinloss in 1941 to be used in a training role. It was written off with Cat.E/FA damage on 14th August 1942 when it crashed in sea off Findhorn during a
cross-country flight with all on board being sadly lost on this occasion.