Whitley N1488 at Dishforth airfield.
During the early hours of 22nd March 1941 this 51 Squadron aircraft was flown on a night circuits and landings trainng exercise. On landing at Dishforth at 06.00hrs during the exercise the undercarriage collapsed during the landing run. It was thought that the undercarriage lever was accidentally moved without the knowledge of either pilots in the cockpit.
The squadron records list this aircraft as being was used twice on the night of 21st / 22nd March 1941 for training flights; the first was a
dusk landing exercise beginning at 18.15hrs and lasting for ninety minutes and the second was begun at 04.30hrs the following morning. The crew as recorded in the 51 Squadron ORB Appendix for the latter were as follows.
Pilot - Sgt John Kirkwood Purdon RAF (745547).
? - Sgt Simmond.
Observer - Sgt Thomas Halford Knighton RAFVR (745273).
? - Sgt Lowe.
? - Sgt Bartley.
It could well be that Whitley N1488 was not a very popular aircraft with crews and 10 Squadron clearly did not want it when they left
Dishforth, passing it on to 51 Squadron.
Whitley N1488 was built to contract 75147/38 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 3rd February 1940. It was taken
on charge by 10 Squadron at Dishforth the following month. On 8th July 1940 it was transferred to 51 Squadron at Dishforth when 10 Squadron moved to
Leeming. On 5th February 1941 it was slightly damaged on landing at Dishforth. Cat.A damage must have been the maximum damage rating. It was repaired on
site only to suffer this landing accident on 22nd March 1941. By the end of March 1941 all 'N'-serial Whitley's had been removed from No.4 Group front line service.
In April 1941 it was taken on charge by 10 OTU at Abingdon where it served until being transferred to 19 OTU at Kinloss. By August 1944 19 OTU had ceased
operating Whitleys and this aircraft was placed into MU storage where it remained until being struck off charge on 12th July 1945.