Whitley T4270 at Dishforth airfield.
On 9th January 1941 the crew on this 51 Squadron aircraft were tasked with an operational flight to bomb Gelsenkirchen and had taken off from Dishforth at 17.30hrs. Just after midnight
the crew were nearing their base when the aircraft stalled just before touching down, it crashed in the undershoot area at 00.43hrs into a gun emplacement
on the edge of Dishforth airfield and caught fire. Two 500lb bombs which had hung-up later exploded in the fire. Three were killed as a result and one
other died later in Harrogate hospital on 12th January 1941.
Police records give more precise details for the location of the crash quoting it occurring some 400 yards down the Boroughbridge side
of the A1 road from the airfield but with the crew being uninjured, though this clearly cannot be correct as all but one eventually died.
Whitley T4270 was built to contract 38599/39 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 12th October 1940. It was
then taken on charge by 51 Squadron at Dishforth later the same month. Following the incident on 10th January 1941 Cat.E2/FB(Burnt) damage was recorded.
Pilot - P/O Gerald Frederick Shaw RAFVR (82674), aged 28, of Chiswick. Buried Chiswick New Cemetery, Middlesex.
Second Pilot - Sgt Harold George Soffe RAFVR (754364), aged 21, of Chichester. Buried Chichester Cemetery, Sussex.
Observer? - Sgt Bernard Leslie Hart RAFVR (746920), of Chandler's Ford, Hampshire. Injured.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt William Morgan Hyslop RAF (646891), aged 20, of Partick, Glasgow. Buried Dishforth Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Kenneth Leon Minassian RAFVR (911592), Died of injuries on 12th January 1941. Aged 24. Of London. Buried Dishforth Cemetery, Yorkshire.
The graves of Sgt's Hyslop and Minassian at Dishforth Cemetery, Yorkshire. Kenneth Minassian was born in London in 1916, his father was very likely
to have been cinematographer Graham Minassian and similiarly Kenneth's older brother was probably George Edward Minassian who became an actor. Kenneth's
death was registered in Knaresborough suggesting he was taken to hospital there where he sadly died.
Gerald Shaw had received a commission on 27th July 1940 (seniority back dated to 21st July 1940) to the rank of P/O on probation.
Bernard Hart recovered from his injuries and later returned to 51 Squadron, he was sadly killed on 21st January 1942 flying in Whitley Z9311
on Ops to Emden. He was thirty one years old and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.