Whitley T4224 at Dishforth airfield.
On the night of 13th / 14th November 1940 this 51 Squadron aircraft was to undertake an operational flight. No.4 Group were operating to both Lorient and Wesseling on this night; the Lorient trip would have been only a short trip but this crew had been tasked with bombing Wesseling. The crew left Dishforth at 21.55hrs. Outbound one of the propeller blades broke up. The engine had to be shut down and the crew turned around and made for base. The crew landed at Dishforth at either 23.15hrs or 23.30hrs (time varies between squadron records and AM Form 1180), because the aircraft was still heavy as the bomb load was still on board and because of a wet surface to the runway the aircraft could not stop on the available airfield available and ran into the boundary hedge. The incident is mentioned in a police report as crash landing close to the A1 road some 300 yards south of the Windsor Castle Hotel, near Dishforth with the crew of four suffering minor injuries (the fifth must have escaped injury). The aircraft suffered damage to the undercarriage.
Pilot - Sgt Anthony Denis Wright RAFVR (742730).
? - P/O Hurry
? - Sgt Taylor
? - Sgt J D Kelly
? - Sgt Norris
Whitley T4224 was built to contract 38599/39 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd, at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 20th September 1940, it was taken on charge by 51 Squadron
at Dishforth later the same month. Cat.M/FB was the damage assessment following this incident at Dishforth and it was repaired on site by a team from A.W. Ltd, Baginton and returned
to 51 Squadron before the end of 1940. In 1941 it was taken on charge by 19 OTU at Kinloss and on 4th October 1941 Cat.W/FA damage was recorded when part of an oil tank cowling blew
off in flight after take off from Forres when the pilot made an emergency landing back at Forres but swung and collided with a banking and the aircraft was badly damaged.