Whitley Z6653 hit by flak, returned to Topcliffe airfield.
On the night of 12th / 13th September 1941 the crew of this 102 Squadron aircraft were tasked with flying an operational flight to bomb Frankfurt, they took off
from Topcliffe at 20.11hrs. The crew bombed from from 10,000ft but was hit by flak, the pilot was able to make the return to Topcliffe and land without
further damage at 05.50hrs.
Pilot - Sgt Derrick Newton Riley RAFVR (986904).
Second Pilot - Sgt George William McDonald RAFVR (521585), of Newcastle on Tyne.
Observer - Sgt D R P Williams.
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt William Nicoll RAFVR (979889), of Crook, Co.Durham.
Air Gunner - Sgt J R Jones.
Whitley Z6653 was built to contract 106962/40 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 7th April 1941, it was
later taken on charge by 102 Squadron at Topcliffe but the date for this is not known. As a result of the flak incident on 13th September 1941
Cat.A/FB damage was recorded and the aircraft was repaired on site and returned to the unit. Around the middle of February 1942 the aircraft was
transferred to the newly re-formed 161 Squadron at Newmarket for SOE duties. On 3rd October 1942 it took off from Tempsford for an operational
flight and failed to return after crashing into the sea off Holland, four of the then crew were killed and two became PoWs. Cat.E(m) damage was recorded on the paperwork.
Sgt Williams was later posted to 35 Squadron, on the night of 28th / 29th April 1942 he was flying in Halifax W1053 on Ops from Kinloss to
bomb the Tirpitz in harbour in Norway, the aircraft was badly damaged by flak and crashed in a field near Trondheim. Sgt Williams became a PoW.
Sgt McDonald was killed on 8th November 1941 flying in Whitley Z9212 on Ops to Essen. He was twenty five years old and is buried in Rheinberg War Cemetery, Germany.
Sgt Nicoll was killed on 28th April 1942 flying in Halifax R9528. He was buried in Dunkirk Town Cemetery, France and was twenty years old.
Derrick Riley was born in 1915, and receieved a commission on 24th April 1942 (120979) to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) and rose to F/O (war subs) on 24th October 1942 and to F/Lt (war subs) on 24th April 1944. He was Mentioned in Despatches with a huge number of service personnel in June 1943 and as F/Lt he was awarded the DFC for service with 692 Squadron, he awarded was Gazetted on 13th June 1944 for his work in piloting Mosquitos. He survived the War and became interested in, and in later years, became a
pioneer of aerial photography used to discover and record many new archaeological sites in England. He published a number of books and one of
his books "Aerial Archaeology in Britain" was re-printed in 2009 after his death in 1993. Sheffield University run a grant fund set up in his memory.