Whitley P4962 at Topcliffe airfield.

On 8th June 1940 this aircraft was taking off to bomb the railway yards in the Essen, Rheydt and Weden areas when the undercarriage collapsed after the pilot lost control, The aircraft was extensively damaged and was taken away for repair. 10 Squadron were using Topcliffe airfield as a satellite airfield for this raid.

Pilot - F/Lt Richard Bickford DFC RAF (37462), uninjured.

Second Pilot - Sgt Harold Herbert George Howard RAF (566734), of Lydiard Millicent, Wiltshire. Uninjured.

Observer - Sgt R N Lown, uninjured.

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Joseph William Stephenson RAF (550132), of Hebburn, Co.Durham. Uninjured.

Air Gunner - LAC Harold Victor Seed RAF (540186), of Dunfermline, Fife. Uninjured.

Richard Bickford was probably born in the Kingston area of Surrey in 1911. He was made an Acting P/O on probation on 7th January 1936, this was made permanent P/O on 28th October 1936, he rose from P/O to F/O on 28th June 1938 and to F/O to F/Lt on 6th May 1939. As F/Lt he was awarded the DFC on 17th May 1940 but no citation has yet been found. He was posted to command E-Flight at 10 OTU following his Tour with 10 Squadron and on 28th November 1940 crashed Magister L5958 on landing at Abingdon with this unit. S/Ldr Bickford later returned to operational flying and commanded 76 Squadron. He was killed on 29th August 1941 as pilot of Halifax L9518 returning from Ops to Frankfurt. The aircraft ran out of fuel near Pocklington, he ordered his crew to bale out but sadly he parachute wrapped around the aircrafts tail fin and he was dragged down by the crashing aircraft. S/Ldr Bickford was cremated in Darlington and was thirty years old.
Sgt's Howard and Stephenson were killed on 27th August 1940 on Ops to attack Milan in Whitley P4990, their aircraft was shot down in Italy. Howard was twenty four years old, Stephenson was twenty two, they are buried in Milan War Cemetery, Italy.
Sgt Seed was in Whitley P4935 on Ops to Berlin on 7th September 1940, the aircraft was reported as missing and he is listed on the Runnymede Memorial. He was twenty one years old.
Whitley P4962 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 25th April 1940. It was delivered to 10 Squadron at Dishforth before the end of the month. On 3rd June 1940 it sustained Cat.M/FB damage when it was hit by flak, an incident detailed previously on this website. Damage must have been slight and it was repaired on site and was back with the unit in time for ops five days later. Following the accident detailed at the top of this page the aircraft was dismantled and removed to an unspecified works for repair. On completion of the repair it was issued to 10 OTU at Abingdon where the aircraft had a very long life in the training role. On 20th March 1944 it moved with the unit to Stanton Harcourt but on 1st May 1944 Cat.E2/FA damage was recorded when the undercarriage collapsed on landing at Stanton Harcourt. It was declared beyond economic repair and struck off charge.