Whitley Z6835 at Linton on Ouse airfield.
On 7th August 1941 the crew on this 58 Squadron aircraft were returning from an operational flight to bomb Frankfurt in the early hours when the port engine cut out on an attempted
overshoot at 05.57hrs and having no power to climb away on one good engine the aircraft swung and struck No.1 hanger. Damage was deemed enough to write it off.
The aircraft was recorded as having Cat.E/FA damage.
Whitley Z6835 was built to contract 106962/40 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 5th July 1941. It was taken
on charge by 58 Squadron at Linton on Ouse later that month but was written off with Cat.E/FA damage following the incident on 7th August 1941.
Pilot - P/0 Andrew Allison Law RAFVR (87053).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Charles Oliver Steggall RAFVR (755408).
Observer - Sgt B J Kemp RAFVR (917060).
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Derrick John McKenzie Bush RAFVR (928579).
Air Gunner - P/O Edward Dmitri Cumber-Higgs RAFVR (82973). Slightly injured.
Andrew Law was born in November 1916 in Edinburgh and attended George Watson's College. He begun working for The National Bank of Scotland in 1934 and
became a member of the Institute of Bankers in Scotland in 1939 but joined the RAFVR later that year. P/O Law and Sgt Steggall suffered a previous mishap
in which they and their then crew were lucky to escape serious injury. On 18th April 1941 Whitley T4266 was hit by flak over Berlin which led to the aircraft
being ditched in the North Sea and they were rescued three days later from their dinghy. On 3rd / 4th September 1941 both (plus Comber-Higgs) were flying in Whitley Z6869 on Ops
to Brest but were recalled early and diverted to Acklington because of poor weather. The aircraft crashed just before landing and Law and Steggall were sadly killed
along with two other members of their then crew. Comber-Higgs was the sole survivor. Andrew Law was aged 24 and is buried in Morningside Cemetery, Edinburgh. Steggall was 33 years old and is buried in Chevington Cemetery, Northumberland; close to the crash site. The photograph of him shown above was found on the George Watson's College website.
The crew list given in William Chorley's Bomber Command losses book for this incident is not correct.
Cumber-Higgs was lost in Whitley Z6506 on 30th November 1941.
Sgt Kemp was on board Whitley Z6947 on 8th September 1941 and was made a PoW.
Sgt Bush left 58 Squadron on 13th August 1941 on posting to 102 Squadron but was killed in Whitley Z6862 when it crashed at Topcliffe on 21st August 1941.