Whitley P4974 damaged by flak, returned safely to Dishforth airfield.
On the night of 11th / 12th September 1940 the crew of this 51 Squadron aircraft were tasked with bombing Berlin when the aircraft was struck by flak in the port engine cowling over Germany. The pilot
was able to make the return leg of the flight to land back at Dishforth safely at 05.40hrs and the aircraft was later repaired.
Pilot - F/Lt Barclay.
Second Pilot - Sgt Ian Harrington Fenton RAFVR (745797).
Sgt Haining
Sgt Mitchell
Sgt Croxford
Sgt Fenton was pilot of 51 Squadron Whitley P4974 on 12th February 1941 when the crew became lost on return from Ops. He and his crew baled out after he had set the controls to take it back out to sea. Where the aircraft crashed was not determined but it was somewhere into the North Sea. He was killed on 27th February 1941 when 51 Squadron Whitley P4934 crashed into the North Sea off Durham. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
Whitley P4974 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and was delivered directly to 51
Squadron at Dishforth on 3rd May 1940. It was damaged by flak on 9th July 1940 with Cat.M/FB damage being 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, as detailed above with Cat.M/FB damage being
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
Beningborough 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. Cat.W/FB damage recorded on the airframe.