Unidentified Oxford at Church Fenton airfield.

On the night of 6th / 7th August 1941 a small number of Luftwaffe aircraft carried out operational flights over Northern England and Fw.Koster of the unit NJG/2 claimed to have shot down a Whitley aircraft. No Whitleys were shot down on this night so he would appear to have made a mistake on his claim of a Whitley. Church Fenton's station ORB states that on this night an Oxford was attacked by an enemy aircraft at 00.20hrs and that the only damage was a few bullet holes in the fuselage. It is possible that the claim of the aircraft and the possible damage of the Oxford relate to the same incident. The Oxford was one being used by 54 Operational Training Unit at the time. The damage that must have been only very slight and was patched on site, no aircraft list damage on this date in the modern Air Britain service history record books of aircraft serial numbers.

The instructor of the Oxford recorded an interview with the Imperial War museum in 1997 in which he mentions this incident, he recalled that he was giving night fighter training to an experienced daytime Beaufighter pilot and while flying at around 500ft and coming into land the Oxford was attacked, he noticed the tracer bullets and raised the flaps, this caused the aircraft to sink towards the ground but it resulted in the enemy aircraft then loosing the Oxford. The Oxford landed safely at Church Fenton.

Instructor Pilot - P/O Walter Frame Gibb RAFVR (88881).

Pupil Pilot - F/Lt Verity.

Walter Gibb was born in South Wales on 26th March 1919, he was the son of coal mine owner but began working for the Bristol Aeroplane company in their engine department in 1937. He joined the RAF in 1940 and after basic training he was posted to Cranwell on a pilot training course, he passed the course, gained his Wings but was selected to be an instructor. He received a commission on 24th November 1940 (back dated to 19th November 1940) to the rank of P/O on probation. He was promoted to F/O on 24th November 1941 (with seniority of 19th November 1941) and to F/Lt (war subs) in November 1942. He was later posted to 611 Squadron and was awarded the DFC, Gazetted on 6th July 1943 while in the rank of Acting S/Ldr. He was promoted to S/Ldr (war subs) on 20th December 1944. While in the rank of Acting W/Co he was awarded the DSO while serving with 239 Squadron, Gazetted on 1st May 1945. He had also flown with 125 Squadron, 605 Squadron and 239 Squadron. After the war he left the RAF and later became a test pilot for BAC. He died in October 2006.

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