Whitley P4962 at Topcliffe airfield.
On the evening of 8th June 1940 part of 10 Squadron were dispersed to use Topcliffe airfield for this raid. This 10 Squadron aircraft was taking off from Topcliffe at 21.21hrs to undertake an operational flight to bomb the railway yards in the Essen,
Rheydt and Weden areas. As the aircraft picked up speed it swung to port and both the undercarriage legs then collapsed after the pilot lost control. The aircraft was extensively damaged and was
taken away for repair.
Pilot - F/Lt Richard Bickford DFC RAF (37462).
Second Pilot - Sgt Harold Herbert George Howard RAF (566734). Injured.
Observer - Sgt Robert Norman Lown RAF (580550). Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Joseph William Stephenson RAF (550132).
Air Gunner - LAC Harold Victor Seed RAF (540186).
Richard Bickford was probably born in the Kingston area of Surrey in 1911. He was made an Acting P/O on probation on 7th January 1936, this was made permanent
P/O on 28th October 1936, he rose from P/O to F/O on 28th June 1938 and F/Lt on 6th May 1939. As F/Lt he was awarded the DFC on 17th May 1940 but no citation
has yet been found. He was posted to command E-Flight at 10 OTU following his Tour with 10 Squadron and on 28th November 1940 crashed Magister L5958 on landing
at Abingdon with this unit. S/Ldr Bickford later returned to operational flying and commanded 76 Squadron. He was killed on 29th August 1941 as pilot of Halifax
L9518 returning from Ops to Frankfurt. The aircraft ran out of fuel near Pocklington, he ordered his crew to bale out but sadly he parachute wrapped around the
aircraft's tail fin and he was dragged down by the crashing aircraft. S/Ldr Bickford was cremated in Darlington and was thirty years old.
Sgt's Howard and Stephenson were killed on 27th August 1940 on Ops to attack Milan in Whitley P4990, their aircraft was shot down over Italy.
Sgt Howard was twenty four years old, Sgt Stephenson was twenty two, they are buried in Milan War Cemetery, Italy.
Sgt Seed was in Whitley P4935 on Ops to Berlin on 7th September 1940, the aircraft was reported as missing and he is listed on the
Runnymede Memorial. He was twenty one years old.
Robert Lown was granted a commission in the RAF on 15th December 1941 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) (47877). He was promoted to F/O on
probation (war subs) on 1st October 1942 and F/Lt (war subs) on 15th December 1943. He was Mentioned in Despatches on 1st January 1943. Post-War he
remained in the RAF and was granted a substantive rank of F/Lt on 1st November 1947. He may well be still living as a Google search on his name gives
numerous hits for someone with the same name and as a result I do not wish to add further details on a known living individual without asking his permission first.
Whitley P4962 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was
awaiting collection on 25th April 1940. It was delivered to 10 Squadron at Dishforth before the
end of the month. On 3rd June 1940 it sustained Cat.M/FB damage when it was hit by flak, an incident detailed previously on this
website. Damage must have been slight and it was repaired on site and was back with the unit in time for ops five days later.
Following the accident detailed at the top of this page the aircraft was dismantled and removed to an unspecified
works for repair. On completion of the repair it was issued to 10 OTU at Abingdon where the aircraft had a very long
life in the training role. On 20th March 1944 it moved with the unit to Stanton Harcourt but on 1st May 1944 Cat.E2/FA damage was recorded
when the undercarriage collapsed on landing at Stanton Harcourt. It was then declared beyond economic repair and struck off charge.