Whitley N1466 damaged by flak, crashed at Topcliffe airfield.

At 17.05hrs on 16th November 1940 this 58 Squadron aircraft took off from Linton on Ouse airfield to undertake an operational flight to bomb Hamburg. Over Germany the aircraft was slightly damaged by flak. During the return flight the aircraft developed a tendency to fly with it's ring wing low and to counteract this the pilot had to fly with the control column fully over to the left to maintain level flight. The crew were diverted to land at Topcliffe and while holding off prior to landing at 23.30hrs the right wing stalled causing the aircraft to drop twenty five feet onto the airfield. This heavy landing caused the starboard undercarriage to collapse.

Pilot - Sgt Albert Ernest Barlow RAF (745656).

Second Pilot - S/Ldr Johnston.

? - Sgt Watt.

? - Sgt Stevens.

? - Sgt Simpson.

Sgt Barlow was made a PoW on 16th January 1941 flying Whitley Z6462 on Ops when the aircraft was shot down off Holland by flak.
Whitley N1466 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 22nd December 1939. It was flown into MU storage until allocated to 58 Squadron at Linton on Ouse in March 1940 when the unit began converting from Mk.III Whitley's to Mk.V's. Cat.M/FB damage was recorded following a flak incident on 28th May 1940 and it was repaired on site and returned to the unit the following month. On 6th September 1940 it made wheels-down forced landing short of fuel on return from Ops to Regenburg to bomb oil installations, the landing was made at Warren Hill, Newmarket, Cambridgeshire but after refuelling the undercarriage collapsed while taking off from the field. It was repaired and returned to the unit. On 16th November 1940 it sustained Cat.M/FB damage at Topcliffe when the undercarriage collapsed. After this incident it was repaired and transferred to 19 OTU at Kinloss in December 1940. By November 1942 it was deemed a time expired airframe and was officially converted to a ground instructional airfield and given the serial number "3418M".

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