Whitley P4955 hit by flak, returned to Dishforth airfield.
On the night of 29th/30th June 1942 the crew of this aircraft were bombing Frankfurt when they were hit by flak slightly damaging the aircraft. The pilot
was able to make the return to Dishforth and land without further damage and the aircraft was soon repaired.
Pilot - F/O William Maxwell Nixon RAF (39677), uninjured.
Crew - Names unknown, uninjured.
Whitley P4955 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and delivered directly
to 10 Squadron at Dishforth on 20th April 1940. Cat.M/FB damage was recorded following the flak damage as stated
above. It was repaired on site and returned to the unit the following week. It then moved with the unit up to
Leeming 8th July 1940 and was slightly damaged (Cat.M/FB) on 9th July 1940 on Ops to Kiel when it was again hit
by flak but again the same pilot was able to return safely to Leeming. Again it was repaired on site and
returned to the unit but was lost, with Cat.W(m) being recorded when, on 17th August
1940 the crew were tasked with Ops to Jena to attack the Zeiss Works. It was hit by flak over the taget
and an SOS was transmitted but at 03.26hrs a made crash landing was made at Rijsbergen, Holland. The
crew of five, including F/O Nixon, were taken PoW. The other four may have been with F/O Nixon on
his other two flak incidents; they were F/O Peter G Whitby (39919), Sgt H W Bradley (580782), Sgt E R Holmes (631819) and Sgt A M Somerville (547146).
William Nixon received his commission to P/O on probation on 9th May 1937 and rose to F/O on 8th September 1939.
As F/O he was awarded the DFC on 22nd November 1940 for service with 10 Squadron, he was promoted to F/Lt while in captivity.
He remained in the RAF after the War rising to S/Ldr on 1st August 1947 before retiring on 1st August 1956.
Peter Whitby remained in the RAF Post-War and was Mentioned in Despatches on 29th August 1952 for distinguished
service in Malaya, having risen to the rank of S/Ldr.