Whitley T4212 at Topcliffe airfield.
On the night of 16th / 17th November 1940 this 77 Squadron aircraft took off from Topcliffe at 19.25hrs to undertake an operational flight to bomb shipyards in Hamburg. On the return to Topcliffe they landed at 03.45hrs but the aircraft bounced some thirty feet which caused the undercarriage to then collapse when it touched down again. I believe that the squadron records are incorrect on this night because there is an AM Form 1180 that lists Bagnall was being pilot of T4212, not T4205 that the squadron records show.
Pilot - P/O Douglas Robert Bagnall RAF (43021).
Second Pilot - Sgt Lee (Probably Sgt Douglas Norman Lee RAFVR (748633)).
Observer - Sgt Frederick Leslie Moore RAFVR (748765).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt John Gray RAFVR (641045).
Air Gunner - Sgt Vincent Gerald Sullivan RAFVR (969335).
Whitley T4212 was built to contract 38599/39 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd, at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 10th September 1940. It was taken on charge by 77 Squadron at
Toplciffe later the same month. It was struck by lightning on Ops on 14th / 15th November 1940 damaging the radio transmitter but a safe landing was made at base. Any damage was
repaired immediately as it was next flown operationally on 17th November 1940 when this probably incident occurred on landing at Topcliffe airfield. After repair it continued to
serve with 77 Squadron until 31st July 1941 when it was written off with Cat.W damage recorded and it stalled on take from Topcliffe for an operational flight to Boulogne and
crashed but the then crew of five survived. This incident is also detailed on this website.
P/O Bagnall returned to operational flying and flew his next as captain on 7th December 1940. He was awarded the DFC for service with 77 Squadron, Gazetted on 6th June 1941. He was graded as P/O on probation on 13th July 1940 and promoted to F/O (War subs) on 13th July 1941 and F/Lt (war subs) on 13th July 1942. After finishing a Tour with 77 Squadron he later (probably) served in Transport Command and served in North Africa. He survived a forced landing in the Atlas Mountains area and the aircraft was later flown out after a strip was created to allow a take off run. He survived a fourth serious accident but the details surrounding it are not known, believed to have been while flying a large aircraft and while landing it crashed with the possibly deaths of a number of the crew. Little is yet known about this incident. He was transferred to the RAFO and called up for service on 11th September 1943 but relinquished his commission on appointment to the RNZAF on 1st January 1944 while in the rank of F/Lt. He survived two other accidents before leaving the RNZAF just before the Korean War. He was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand in October 1910 and died in Auckland in October 1996. I thank his son for contacting me in September 2014.
Douglas Robert Bagnall was known by his second name, he was granted a short service commission in the RAF as Acting P/O on probation on 23rd March 1940. On the night of 23rd / 24th November 1940 he was the captain of Whitley T4160 tasked along with five other 77 Squadron aircraft and four 102 Squadron aircraft with bombing the Royal Arsenal, Turin. Having flown a staging flight to re-fuel at Horsham St.Faith in Norfolk they set out on the long flight to Italy. The raid does not appear to have been a success with his aircraft and others not landing safely when they returned. He later recorded his memories of this flight and believed that incorrectly forecast weather and specifically wind resulted in them probably drifting off course, they spent a long time trying to identify a target eventually dropping their bombs on fires from previously dropped bombs possibly in Genoa. They made a rough calculation of where they might be and plotted a course back to England. On the return leg and while flying over The Alps the aircraft developed a problem with the airscrew pitch control on one engine, this sped the engine up and would have used more fuel so they slowed the aircraft down to try to save fuel. This problem combined with the distance to Italy and spending time searching for a target resulted in them being low on fuel as they crossed France. Still not sure of their exact position and with fuel running low after crossing what they thought was the French coast they transmitted signals to state they were probably gong to ditch. The aircraft eventually ran out of fuel and on spotting two boats below P/O Bagnall ditched near them having first instructed his crew to the back of the aircraft to then launch the dinghy when the aircraft came to a stop. The ditching was successful but when P/O Bagnall climbed out of the cockpit and along the top of the aircraft down to the where he expected the crew to have launched and be climbing into the dinghy there was no dinghy. As the Whitley was sinking fast the crew left the aircraft and went into the water and this was the last Bagnall saw of the rest of his crew. He attracted the attention of the boats by torch and was he eventually dragged on board by their crew. Although the two boats spent some time searching for his crew no trace was ever found of them and they are all commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. It later transpired the aircraft ditched only a few miles off the English coast, believed to have been in the Straits of Dover.
Sgt Sullivan, Sgt Gray and Sgt Moore were also flying in Whitley T4160 on Ops to Turin on 24th November 1940 and failed to return, it was believed to have been ditched in the Straits of Dover but no trace of the aircraft was found. While the pilot, P/O Bagnall, was rescued the other crew members were never found and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.