Whitley P4974 near Shipton by Beningbrough.
On the night of 7th / 8th October 1940 the crew in this 51 Squadron Whitley were returning from an operational flight to Berlin when the aircraft ran low on fuel after eleven hours in the air. The pilot force landed the aircraft at the relief landing ground at 07.30hrs near Shipton-by-Beningbrough. Unfortunately the pilot was unaware that anti-invasion poles had been planted across the field to prevent enemy aircraft from landing and only realised when it was too late to stop the landing being made. The Whitley was slightly damaged. The squadron records state that this was on the "Forced landing ground at Topcliffe". The crew were unhurt and the aircraft appears to have been re-fuelled and returned Dishforth.
Pilot - P/O Philip Hampden Tippetts-Aylmer RAF (41333).
? - Sgt Beddow
? - Sgt Phillips
? - Sgt Brittain
? - Sgt Stroud
Whitley P4974 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and delivered directly to 51
Squadron at Dishforth on 3rd May 1940. Following a flak incident on 8th / 9th July 1940 Cat.M/FB damage was recorded
and it was repaired on site and returned to the unit. On 17th August 1940 on ops to bomb Bohlen power station its crew on
this occasion were forced to land at Nuneaton airfield but the aircraft was undamaged and it was refuelled and flown back
to Dishforth. On 12th September 1940 it sustained flak damage on Ops to Berlin but its crew were able to return safely to
Dishforth. Cat.M/FB damage was recorded and again it was repaired on site and returned to the unit. On 8th October 1940
on Ops to Berlin again it ran short of fuel on return and made forced landing at Shipton by
Beningbrough relief landing ground, a few miles north of York. Again it was undamaged and after it was re-fuelled it was
flown back to Dishforth. On 12th February 1941 its then crew were undertaking Ops to Bremen when. On their return it was
abandoned out of fuel in bad weather over the North of England and possibly continued out to sea with no crew on board as
the crash location is not recorded. It's then crew survived and Cat.W/FB damage recorded on the airframe.