Whitley P4962 hit by flak, returned to Dishforth airfield.
On 3rd June 1940 this aircraft was hit by flak on Ops to bomb oil targets in the Hamburg area, at the time the aircraft was acting as a target illuminator
when it was hit by flak, thought to have been towards the rear of the aircraft as the rear gunner sustained serious injuries. The pilot was able to make a safe return to
land at Dishforth and the aircraft was soon repaired.
Pilot - F/Lt Richard Bickford DFC RAF (37462). Uninjured.
Air Gunner - Sgt James William Cornforth RAF (624289), of North Ormesby, Middlesbrough. Seriously injured.
Rest of crew - Names unknown. Uninjured.
Richard Bickford 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 the 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.
A F/Sgt James Cornforth was later posted to 109 Squadron and on 21st November 1941 he was killed flying in Wellington T2552 which crashed near Oakington. He is buried in Linthorpe Cemetery, Middlesbrough. An airman of the same name and service number was injured in action in the days before 20th June 1940 and I believed that both men are one and the same. He was twenty five 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, detailed above. Damage must have been slight and it was repaired on site and was back with the unit in time for ops five days later. It crashed on take off from Topcliffe, and 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.