Whitley T4217 "MH-J" at Foggathorpe, Pocklington.
On the night of 11th / 12th February 1941 this 51 Squadron aircraft undertook an operational flight to Bremen and received flak damage to the tail which made controlling it difficult. On their return to Yorkshire poor weather was present. With limited visibility this and other 51 Squadron crews were left with little option after becoming lost to bale out when fuel ran low. The location given in the AIR81 file for the incidents gives T4217 as crashing near Foggathorpe, Pocklington. A photograph of 51 Squadron's Ops Board for this night appeared in Flypast magazine in 2011 which stated that Whitley "MH-J" was abandoned over Wetherby (this possibly relates to Whitley P4974 and the two were mixed up).
William Chorley's Bomber Command losses book for this night has four 51 Squadron aircraft being written off. P4891 and P5013 have been covered on their own webpages, and
MH-F/P4974 has had similar research done which eventually crashed into the North Sea after the crew baled out over Yorkshire. Whitley T4217 is credited as crashing near Bircham Newton in Norfolk; many miles from Wetherby or Foggathorpe.
Pilot - P/O Norman Edward Sharp RAF (43046). Injured.
Second Pilot - Sgt Desmond Laurence Matthewman RAF (903018).
Observer - Sgt Sydney John Congdon RAFVR (755426). Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Bernard Salt RAFVR (650445).
Air Gunner - Sgt Leslie James Allum RAFVR (755506). Injured.
Sydney Congdon was born in Hampstead, London in 1916. He recovered from his injuries and was posted to 104 Squadron, he was awarded the DFM for
service with 104 Squadron, Gazetted on 24th October 1941 (the same date as Sgt Allum as listed below). He received his commission to P/O on probation
(emergency) on 8th December 1941 and was promoted to F/O on probation (war subs) on 1st October 1942. He married in Totnes, Devon in 1942. He died on 15th August 1943 while serving with 138 SOE Squadron flying in Halifax JD180 on "Operation Pimento", the aircraft was damaged by small
arms fire near Annecy, France during a supply drop and suffered a port engine failure. During an attempted ditched landing on a lake it struck two
houses near Annecy and crashed. The pilot S/Ldr Frank Griffiths AFC had a remarkable escape and was assisted by the resistance to evade capture but
the rest of the crew died as well as a number of French civilians. A memorial has since been placed on the crash site. Sydney Congdon is buried in
Meythet Communal Cemetery, France. He was twenty six years old. This accident is well documented on the internet.
Leslie Allum was born in the Headington area of Oxfordshire in 1916. He was awarded the DFM for service with 51 Squadron, Gazetted on 24th
October 1941. He received his commission on 26th December 1941 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) and rose to F/O on probation (war subs)
on 1st October 1942. He died flying with 7 Squadron on 24th November 1943 in Lancaster JB480 on Ops to Berlin having risen to the rank of Acting
F/Lt. He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. He was twenty seven years old.
Norman Edward Sharp was later awarded the DFC for service with 51 Squadron. He died on 19th July 1942 flying Liberator AL554 which crashed near Haifa, Israel.
Desmond Matthewman received a commission on 5th June 1941 and was awarded the DFC for service with 51 Squadron Gazetted on 21st November 1941. As Acting S/Ldr he was awarded the Bar to the DFC for service with 142 Squadron Gazetted on 1st October 1943.
Bernard Salt later received a commission. He was killed flying with 12 Squadron on 31st March 1944 and is buried in Rheinberg War Cemetery, Germany.