Whitley N1466 damaged by flak, returned to Linton on Ouse airfield.
On the night of 27th / 28th May 1940 the crew of this 58 Squadron aircraft were tasked with bombing the Rhine area, targets around Dortmund, Duisburg, Dusseldorf and Cologne were
selected but was unable to locate a target so released their bombs over Flushing aerodrome. The aircraft sustained minor flak damage over Germany. The pilot was able to make the return to land at Linton on Ouse without further incident at 03.55hrs.
Pilot - Sgt Albert George Ernest Dixon RAF (563164).
Second Pilot - P/O Victor Fernley Baker Pike RAF (41868).
? - Sgt Moody.
? - LAC Harris.
? - AC1 Haigh.
Albert Dixon received a commission on 26th April 1941 to the rank of P/O on probation. He was awarded the DFC for service with "55 Squadron" on 31st October 1941 and rose
to F/O (war subs) on 26th April 1942, and to F/Lt (war subs) exactly a year later. He survived the War. It is probable that there was a type-error in the London Gazette with
reference to his DFC and that 55 Squadron should read 58 Squadron.
Victor Pike received a commission on 1st April 1939 to the rank of P/O on probation and was graded as P/O on probation on 3rd September 1939. He later rose to F/O on 21st October 1940.
He was awarded the DFC for service with 58 Squadron, Gazetted on 22nd November 1940. On the night of 9th / 10th April 1941 he was flying 7 Squadron Stirling N6011 when the aircraft was shot down and crashed in Germany with the loss of all but one of his then crew.
By this date he was in the rank of Acting F/Lt. He is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery and was still just twenty years old. His older brother Sgt Richard Cecil Luscombe
Pike RAF (580454) died serving with 218 Squadron on 13th November 1939.
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 the flak incident
detailed above 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, the aircraft landed undamaged and it was refuelled on site to be flown out
but during the take off the undercarriage collapsed. It was then 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".