Whitley N1486 near Market Weighton.

On the night of 3rd / 4th August 1940 the crew of this 78 Squadron aircraft were tasked with flying an operational flight to Mannheim to attack an oil refinery and took off from Dishforth at 21.46hrs. On their return to Yorkshire many aircraft found their bases blanketed in fog. Short of fuel the pilot of this aircraft made a wheels-down landing on farmland two miles East of Market Weighton at 06.20hrs with no damage to the aircraft being sustained nor any injuries reported. The aircraft was re-fuelled later in the morning and took off at 12.10hrs, landing back at Dishforth at 12.35hrs.

Pilot - P/O John Richard Denny RAF (43954).

Pilot - P/O Peter Bettley Robinson RAF (36274).

Observer - Sgt Geoffrey Howard Samson RAF (740007).

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Joseph Lyon Roberts RAF (551591).

Air Gunner - P/O Alfred Denys Webb RAF (43463).

Whitley N1486 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and was allotted to 27 MU on 2nd January 1940. The aircraft was received by them on 7th March 1944 and was then taken on charge by 51 Squadron at Dishforth on 25th May 1940. 78 Squadron then took the aircraft on charge on 17th June 1940 at Linton on Ouse, who then moved to Dishforth on 15th July 1940. On 4th August 1940 it made a forced landing in a field near Market Weighton on return from Ops to Mannheim in poor weather but sustained no damage and it was refuelled on site and flown out. It then sustained Cat.R/FB damage in a forced landing near Scarborough on 18th November 1940. It took some weeks for it to arrive at Marshalls for a repair in works in December 1940. The aircraft was listed as ready and awaiting allocation on 27th November 1941. After being received by 45 MU on 17th January 1943 it sustained Cat.Ac/FA damage in an accident on 14th February 1942 at Kinloss when the undercarriage collapsed when the jacks slippled on wet grass while a wheel was being changed. The aircraft was repaired on site and then issued to 19 OTU on 4th March 1942. The aircraft was written off on 14th August 1942 when it crashed in sea off Findhorn during a cross-country flight with all on board being lost. Cat.E(m) damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge on the same date.
John Denny was posted to 78 Squadron from 51 Squadron and was granted a commission in the RAF as P/O on probation on 25th June 1940 (with seniorty backdated to 25th April 1940). P/O Denny was made a PoW on the night of 28th/29th November 1940 while flying Whitley P5026 on Ops to Stettin. Soon after being made a PoW the notification came through that he was to be awarded the DFC for service with 78 Squadron, probably for completing a Tour with them. Notification appeared in the London Gazette dated 22nd November 1940 although no citation for this has been found. He rose to F/O (war subs) on 24th June 1941 (seniority 25th April 1941) and rose to F/Lt on 24th June 1942 (with seniority again backdated to 25th April 1942). After the War he was appointed a Member of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), as of 6th September 1946, for work done while a prisoner of war. The citation gives us an insight into this work, it reads.. "Flight Lieutenant Denny was captured on Juist Island in November 1940, having been forced to crash land his aircraft. In October 1941, while in transit from Lubeck to Warburg, he and a companion cut a hole in the side of the truck in which they were travelling and jumped from the train as it was leaving the station. Flight Lieutenant Denny followed the railway line and reached Bremen five days later. He boarded a train going to Amsterdam but, on arrival at Oldenburg, the truck was put in a siding and he was forced to leave. He hid in a barn but was discovered by a farmer and handed over to the police. During his imprisonment at Stalag Luft I and Oflag VIB, Flight Lieutenant Denny was a member of the Escape Committee and engaged in tunnel digging operations. He also worked on a scheme for escape by man-lifting kites. One was just completed when the equipment was discovered." He was appointed to a permanent commission in the RAF as F/Lt on 1st September 1945 (with seniority back-dated to 1st January 1943). He rose to S/Ldr on 1st August 1947 and commanded 15 Squadron from December 1949 until April 1953. He rose to W/Co on 1st July 1953 and retired from the RAF as W/Co on 19th July 1958.

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