Whitley Z6746 at Topcliffe airfield.
On 15th August 1941 this 102 Squadron aircraft overshot the runway at Topcliffe on return from Ops to Hannover at 05.01hrs while landing in poor visibility.
The undercarriage collapsed when the aircraft swung out of control and it sustained damage deemed serious enough for it to be written off. The
crew escaped serious injury.
Whitley Z6746 was built to contract 106962/40 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd, at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 14th May 1941. It
was taken on charge by 102 Squadron at Topcliffe the following month and as a result of this damage in August 1941 Cat.E/FA was recorded.
Pilot - Sgt John Reid RAFVR (967458), of Glasgow.
Second Pilot - Sgt Gordon Francis Joseph Hoben RCAF, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Navigator - P/O Stanley Roy Whipple RAFVR (68741), of Liverpool.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Ronald Charles Perriam RAFVR (1155037), of Nottingham.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt John Walter Ronald Griffiths RAF (650725), of Boothstown, Manchester.
Gordon Hoben later transferred to Fighter Command and was posted to 403 Squadron. He was killed when Spitfire AR345 crashed
close to Topcliffe airfield on 11th July 1942 while returning to his former base. This accident is detailed on my website
here.
Sgt Perriam was killed on 17th June 1942 flying with 102 Squadron in Halifax R9530 which was shot down on Ops to Essen. The aircraft crashed
into the sea off the Dutch coast and Sgt Perriam's body was never found. He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, he was twenty one years old.
F/Sgt Griffiths was killed on 11th September 1941 in Whitley Z6870 which crashed at Topcliffe on a training flight. This incident is covvered in the
September section to this website. He was twenty years old and his body returned home for burial in Worsley Churchyard, Lancashire.
Stanley "Roy" Whipple received his commission on 20th April 1941 to the rank of P/O on probation and rose to F/O on 20th April 1942.
He begun his Tour with 102 Squadron on 19th July 1941 and finished his Tour on 31st July 1942 and was posted to instruct at Riccall.
He was awarded the DFC for service with 102 Squadron while in the rank of Acting F/Lt (Gazetted on 18th May 1943, well after completing
his Tour), the Citation for his DFC is rather vague, it reads.. "This officer has participated in numerous successful sorties, including
attacks on such well defended targets as Berlin, Bremen, Cologne and Essen." He was promoted to F/Lt on 20th April 1943 and survived
the War. After the war he took up a role at Liverpool University. He died in Liverpool in June 2013, aged 96. The 102 Squadron website
has much more information about his wartime experiences.
John Reid was born in Glasgow to John and Elizabeth Reid. He was awarded the DFM for service as an NCO, probably with 102 Squadron but the entry in the
London Gazette has not yet been located when this webpage was last updated. He received his commission on 29th May 1942 (128102) to the rank of
P/O on probabation (emergency) and rose to F/O on 29th November 1942
and F/Lt on 29th May 1944. He was later posted to 605 Squadron flying Mosquitos. On 23rd June 1944 he was killed when Mosquito NS880
crashed near Margate Railway Station. He was twenty three years old and is buried in Hemel Hempstead Cemetery (where his wife lived).
He is also commemorated on a family gravestone in Kilsyth, Glasgow and on a war memorial commemorating the fallen of the Cumbernauld district.