Whitley P4969 between Topcliffe and Thirsk.
On the night of 27th / 28th November 1940 the crew of this aircraft undertook an operational flight with Turin initially selected as the primary target,
before setting out 77 Squadron crews must have been informed that this was not the order for the night as all 77 Squadron aircraft listed in the ORB bombed the
secondary target of Cologne. They took off from Topcliffe at 21.43hrs but attacked Cologne from 12,000 feet but due to an incorrectly set altimeter the aircraft undershot the landing by some distance. At 03.30hrs it made the approach too low, struck and tree and crashed some 800 yards short of the flare path on the south side of the Topcliffe to Thirsk road. The aircraft suffered only minor damage to its nose.
Pilot - Sgt Philip Rowe RAFVR (745268).
Second Pilot - P/O Leonard Edward Pearson RAF (42639).
Observer - Sgt Hall.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Hinde.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - P/O Peter O'Neill Darbishire RAFVR (751654).
Sgt Darbishire was on board Whitley P5049 when it was probably damaged on 8th September 1940, possibly at Driffield. Sgt Rowe and Sgt Derbishire were lost on
16th December 1940 flying Ops to Berlin in Whitley T4226 which is believed to have ditched off Scarborough on the return but no trace was ever found of the aircraft.
It is noticable the large number of 77 Squadron ditchings in the second half of 1940. They are both commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
Sgt Hall was possibly Sgt John Napier Hall RAFVR (743002) and if so then he was soon posted to 35 Squadron and killed on 13th January 1941 when Halifax L9487
crashed near Baldersby, Thirsk.
Len Pearson would survive the crash landings of Whitley T4205 at Raskelf on 3rd December 1940 and Whitley T4293 at Topcliffe on 28th December 1940 which
collided with Whitley P5005 (both detailed on this website). As F/O he was killed piloting Whitley Z6585 which crashed in Europe on Ops on 17th / 18th April
1941. He was twenty one years old and is buried in Hamburg Cemetery, Germany. His brother Stanley served in the Army and was sadly killed just after the War
on 3rd December 1945.
Sgt Hinde was still serving with 77 Squadron in May 1941 but nothing more is known of him.
Whitley P4969 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 2nd May 1940, it was taken on charge
by 51 Squadron at Dishforth later the same month when the unit began converting from Mk.IV's to Mk.V Whitleys and it was coded "MH-K". It was transferred to
77 Squadron early in September 1940 at Linton on Ouse as a replacement for N1501 which was destroyed in the air raid at Driffield on 15th August 1940. As a
result of the damage on 28th November 1940 Cat.B/FB must have been the assessment of the damage and it was taken away and repaired in works. On completion
of the repair it was taken on charge by 1502 BAT Flight at Linton on Ouse in the spring of 1941, it moved to Driffield with the unit on 4th April 1941. In
late 1941 the aircraft was transferred to 10 OTU at Abingdon and finally to 19 OTU at Kinloss. On 9th January 1943 it was destroyed with Cat.E2/FA damage
recorded when it suffered a fire in the starboard engine on a night cross country training flight, the then pilot made an emergency landing at at or near
Lossiemouth airfield but it was badly damaged.