Blenheim L6775 at Catfoss airfield.
On 8th January 1941 this 2 (C)OTU aircraft made a heavy landing at Catfoss airfield and the undercarriage collapsed. All on board escaped injury. The pilot was probably an instructor at Catfoss at the time.
Pilot - F/Lt Vincent Howard Furlong RAF (39042).
3 Passengers - Names unknown.
Vincent Furlong was born in the Brentford area in 1917 and joined the RAF in the mid-1930s. He was appointed to a commission in the RAF as Acting
P/O on probation on 24th August 1936. He was posted to 217 Squadron on 24th April 1937. He then rose through the ranks to F/O on 29th January 1939,
F/Lt on 3rd September 1940, S/Ldr (temp) on 29th June 1942. Post-War he was appointed to a permanent commission in the Secretarial Branch of the RAF
as S/Ldr on 7th September 1948 (with seniority of 26th March 1948) but was "removed" from his commission on 2nd December 1949. He died in Ludlow in 1998.
Blenheim L6775 was built to contract 588371/36 by A.V. Roe Ltd. at Chadderton and was awaiting collection in October 1939 and was soon
delivered to 57 Squadron, a light bomber unit based at Rosieres-en-Santerre, France. In March 1940 the unit ceased operating Blenheim MkI's
and the aircraft was flown into MU storage but remained there only a short time before being taken on charge by the newly formed 1(C)OTU at Silloth
in April 1940. All Silloth's Blenheim's were transferred to 2(C)OTU at Catfoss on 1st November 1940 and the aircraft appears to have sustained very
minor damage on 8th January 1941 but it is not listed in the Air Britain books detailing service histories, it probably sustained Cat.A/FA damage.
It must have been repaired on site and returned to the unit where it remained until being transferred to the newly formed 132 (C)OTU at East Fortune
in late November 1942. In August 1943 a large number of Blenheims were struck off charge and given ground instructional airframe numbers; L6775 became
4042M. After this date nothing more of the aircraft is known.