Whitley T4205 near Raskelf, Easingwold.
On 3rd December 1940 this Whitley took off from Topcliffe at 16.32hrs for Ops to Mannheim.
For some reason the crew did not release their bombs over the target and brought them home
and while making for their Yorkshire base at Topcliffe the aircraft was force landed near
Easingwold, at Boscar Wood, Raskelf at around 03.40hrs. Lack of fuel was blamed for the landing
being attempted (not suprising given the time in the air), the wireless had also failed and they
were unable to get signals to locate an airfield. A fire broke out in the landing which caused
one of the bombs to explode later (probably at another time quoted for the crash itself) at around
06.00hrs. All five crew men were injured and the aircraft destroyed as a result.
Whitley T4205 was built to contract 38599/39 by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 5th September 1940.
It was delivered to the RAF during the first week of September 1940 to 77 Squadron at Linton-on-Ouse. It moved with the unit to
Topcliffe on 5th October 1940. It sustained Cat.W/Burnt damage in the incident detailed above.
Pilot - Sgt N C Bizley RAFVR (242472?). Broken leg and arm.
Second Pilot - P/O Leonard Edward Pearson RAF (42639), of Scorton, Lancashire. Slightly injured.
Observer - Sgt Sewell. Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Middleton. Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Engel. Injured.
This was Sgt Bizley's second crash within a month; he had ditched a Whitley off Hornsea, Yorkshire in mid-November 1940 on
return from Ops to Berlin. On 6/7th July 1941 Sgt Bizley was flying Whitley Z6642 on Ops to Dortmund, his aircraft crashed in Holland and
he and the four he was flying with became PoW's. He was probably one Norman C Bizley, born in Bristol around 1919 and married in the same
area in the 1950s.
Len Pearson would also survive the crash landing of Whitley T4293 at Topcliffe on 28th December 1940 which collided with Whitley P5005 (detailed on this website).
As F/O he was killed piloting Whitley Z6585 which crashed in Europe on Ops on 17/18th April 1941, he was twenty one years old and is buried in Hamburg Cemetery, Germany.
His brother Stanley served in the Army and was sadly killed just after the War on 3rd December 1945.
Nothing is known of the other three airmen, it is possible that Sgt Engel was one Sgt Paul Engel who was killed while serving with 619 Squadron in 1943.