Whitley T4234 at Dishforth airfield.

On the night of 15th / 16th February 1941 this 10 Squadron aircraft was being used on an operational flight to attack Sterkrade and took off from Leeming at 18.43hrs. The crew attacked the target from 11,000 feet but on their return to Yorkshire they landed at Dishforth at 23.29hrs. They swung off the runway and the undercarriage collapsed. The crew escaped injury and the aircraft was slightly damaged.

Pilot - Sgt Thomas Walker Towell RAF (590802).

Second Pilot - Sgt Alfred Ronald Robbins RAFVR (754051).

Observer - Sgt Lewis Zalsberg RAFVR (755970).

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt George Christie RAFVR (971579).

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt R G Jones. (Probably Sgt Ronald Gibson Jones RAFVR (974122)).

Thomas "Stanley" Towell was born in Richill, Northern Ireland, he joined the Royal Air Force in 1934 and would serve in Bomber Command, Middle East Command and South-east Asia Command by the time he left the service. Sgt Towell had been with 10 Squadron since at least the summer of 1940 when he was the pilot of Whitley P5018 damaged by flak. He was awarded the DFM for service with 10 Squadron only days after this incident at Dishforth (detailed above), Gazetted on 17th January 1941. He received his commission to P/O on probation on 12th April 1941 (with seniority from 26th March 1941), rising to F/O exactly a year later and to F/Lt (war subs) on 12th April 1943 (with seniority backdated to 26th March 1943). He was Mentioned in Despatches with a huge number of other airforce personnel on 2nd June 1943 and on 18th June 1943 the notification that he was to be awarded the DFC appeared in the London Gazette; it was awarded for service with 159 Squadron flying in the Middle East, North Africa and India, the citation reads.."F/Lt Towell is now on his second tour of operational duty. He has flown on a very large number of operational sorties. Several times F/Lt Towell has flown his badly damaged aircraft safely back to base." He rose to S/Ldr (war subs) on 1st January 1945. He remained in the RAF Postwar and rose to W/Co on 1st July 1952 before retiring on 12th December 1964. The photograph shows him (on the left) in the cockpit of a 159 Squadron Liberator and was found on a great website at "www.rafb24.com".

Lewis Zalsberg was born in Stepney, London in 1920 and had joined the RAF prior to the outbreak of War. He was recommended for the DFM for service with 10 Squadron in 1941 and the recommendation reads.. "A first class Observer who, throughout his operational career, has never slackened his keenness and efficiency. His cheerful enthusiasm has been an inspiration to all who have worked with him and his courage and determination in the face of strong enemy opposition has contributed largely to the success of the crews with whom he has operated."

His DFM came through and was Gazetted on 23rd September 1941. Having completed a Tour with 10 Squadron, believed to be somewhere in the region of 29 operational flights he was later posted to 511 Squadron Transport Command. His duties mainly involved flying on the Lyneham-Gibraltar-Cairo West run and he completed 31 flights with his pilot being F/Lt Prchal, the flights combined a mixture of freight and V.I.P. passengers and these included Winston Churchill and General Sikorski.

Lewis Zalsberg had been a member of the crew that had flown General Wladyslaw Sikorski from England to Cairo in June 1940 and had personally requested that Zalsberg was one of those who would fly him back to England via Gibraltar in July 1943. On 1st July they left Cairo in Liberator AL523 and landed in Gibraltar later that same day, after three days on the ground at 23.07hrs they took off in AL523 from Gibraltar to fly to England but soon after taking off the Liberator crashed into the sea with the loss of all but the pilot. W/O Zalsberg's body was recovered and he is buried in Gibraltar (North Front) Jewish Cemetery. General Sikorski's body was brought to England and he was buried at Newark Cemetery though his body has since been returned to his homeland. Lewis Zalsberg's medal set sold at Christie's in 1992.

Sgt Christie had already survived a serious crash while on Ops to 13th November 1940 when Whitley T4232 crashed in Wales on return from Ops to Lorient. The aircraft caught fire on impact and Sgt Christie dragged the four members of his crew from the burning wreckage despite suffering injuries himself, one of the crew sadly died of his injuries. He was killed while still serving with 10 Squadron on 25th July 1941 when Whitley Z6624 failed to return from Ops to Hannover. The aircraft crashed into the North Sea and his body was washed ashore and later buried in Kiel War Cemetery. He was twenty one years old. His pilot when he died was the same as when he crashed in Wales, S/Ldr Landale DFC.
Alfred Robbins was later posted to 58 Squadron. As F/Sgt on 10th / 11th October 1941 he was flying Ops to Essen in Whitley Z9154 and failed to return. The aircraft was probably shot down by an emeny night-fighter off Holland. His body was recovered and he is buried in Bergen-Op-Zoom War Cemetery, Holland. He was twenty one years old.
F/Sgt Ronald Jones was killed serving with 10 Squadron on 28th June 1941 when Whitley P5055 failed to return from Ops to Bremen. He is buried in Hamburg Cemetery.
Whitley T4234 was built to contract 38599/39 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd, at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 29th September 1940, it was then taken on charge by 10 Squadron at Leeming the following month. It was possibly damaged on the night of 3rd / 4th January 1941 in an incident at Leeming airfield but no details regarding how this occurred are currently known and if it was damaged then it can only have sustained Cat.A/FB at the very worst. It would have been repaired on site and returned to it's squadron. On 15th February 1941 it sustained the mishap at Dishforth as recorded above. Cat.A(C)/FB damage was recorded and it was repaired on site by a team from Armstrong Whitworth Ltd and returned to the unit. On 23rd August 1941 Cat.E2/FB damage was recorded following the accident on Widdale Fell between Hawes and Dent. Both other incidents are detailed on this website.

Back to monthly table.