Whitley K7241 near Finningley.
By October 1938 there was a real risk of war happening. On the night of 21st / 22nd October 1938 a widescale blackout test for Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and part of North Derbyshire was carried out and appears to have been very well observed by the public. To assess how well this test went four 7 Squadron Whitleys from Finningley were used for observation purposes. Unfortunately during this exercise a dummy bomb was dropped and landed near the Kilnhurst works of the Yorkshire Tar Distillers and was recorded in a local newspaper as being "returned to them via Mexborough Police" the following day. During the observation test flights a bank of mist rolled in over the Finningley area. Three aeroplanes landed safely but the fourth made an approach to land at 03.30hrs but was slightly too low. It struck the roof the roof of a bungalow owned by and with Mr H Dudley, his wife and two sons asleep inside. It damaged the roof and it also clipped the roof of the next door house owned by Mrs G Hare (sister of Mrs Dudley) and slightly damaged that. The aeroplane then landed at Finningley safely. A problem with the setting of the altimeter's pressure setting was thought to be the cause of the pilot flying too low.
Pilot - P/O Patrick Wilfred Villiers Massy RAF
Crew - Names unknown.
Patrick Massy later transferred to the Fleet Air Arm. He served in Second World War piloting Swordfish over the Mediterranean, he was twice Mentioned in Despatches and received a DSC and a DSO but was killed when the ship (HMS Avenger) he was with was sunk on 15th November 1942 en-route to the UK. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Lee on Solent Memorial. He was twenty six years old.