Whitley T4175 near Langtoft, Driffield.
On the evening of 15th January 1941 this 51 Squadron aircraft suffered engine trouble while in the air over the Driffield area. The pilot force landed in a field near Langtoft with it's wheels down at 23.45hrs but as the aircraft was going to overshoot the chosen field the pilot deliberately swung the aircraft which caused the undercarriage to collapse. The aircraft cannot have been seriously damaged as it appears to have been repaired on site and a number of hedges removed so the aircraft could be flown out. The aircraft does not feature in the operational listings for their operational flight on 15th January 1941 but I believed that it was returning from Ops to Wilhelmshaven when the incident occurred.
Pilot - F/Lt James Harrington RAF (39439).
Crew - Names unknown.
Whitley T4175 was built to contract 38599/39 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 28th August 1940 and after a
period of MU storage it was taken on charge by 51 Squadron at Dishforth in November 1940. On 15th January 1941 Cat.A(c) damage was recorded following
the incident detailed above and it was repaired on site and flown out of the field to Dishforth but was immediately taken on charge by 78 Squadron
at Dishforth. On 7th April 1941 it moved with the unit to Middleton St.George. By August 1941 78 Squadron had ceased operating 'T'-serial aircraft
on Bomber Command operations and the aircraft was subsequently transferred to 10 OTU at Abingdon to be used in a training role. By December 1944 all
Whitley aircraft had been withdrawn from use by 10 OTU and this aircraft was now placed in to long term MU storage until it was struck off charge, broken up
and returned to produce on 26th April 1945.