Whitley Z6871 at Topcliffe airfield.

On 31st August 1941 102 Squadron Whitley Z6868 was being loaded with bombs at Topcliffe airfield prior to Ops to bomb the Krupps Works at Essen when one of the bombs exploded and both Z6868 and Whitley Z6871 which was parked nearby were damaged. Z6871 muct have been soon repaired it was back in the air and the same the pilot as named below crashed it into the North Yorkshire Moors at the end of September 1941. As fate would have it I suggest that he was the only one of those named below to survive the War.

Whitley Z6871 was built to contract 106962/40 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. at Baginton and was awaiting collection on 7th July 1941. It was taken on charge by 102 Squadron at Topcliffe later the same month and as a result of flak damage on 27th August 1941 Cat.A/FB was recorded following an operational flight to Cologne the night previously. This flak damage must have been slight, it was repaired on site and was ready for Ops on 31st August 1941 when the explosion occurred and Cat.A damage was the result. It was again repaired on site and returned to 102 Squadron. On 30th September 1941 it crashed on the North Yorkshire Moors on return from Ops to Stettin and Cat.E2/FB was recorded on the paperwork.

Pilot - P/O David Bernard Delany RAFVR (63472).

Second Pilot - Sgt Charles Thomas Roderick Anderson RAFVR (1006358), of Hunmanby, Yorkshire.

Observer - Sgt R K Thomson (Probably Richard Keith Thomson RCAF, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada).

Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - Sgt Frederick Arthur Braybrook RAF (746719), of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

? - Sgt Robert Brown RAFVR (1100635), of South Shields, County Durham.

? - Sgt Alexander Gibson Buchanan RCAF (R/58102), of North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada.

P/O Delany was pilot of this same aircraft which crashed into high ground on the North Yorkshire Moors at the end of September 1941, detailed here. He had been made P/O on 3rd April 1941 and was made F/O a year later. He was awarded the AFC on 28th December 1945. In the Post-War RAF he was promoted to F/Lt in January 1946. He was granted the permenant rank of F/Lt on 9th March 1949. I have loctaed a brief reference to suggest that he may have served with 114 Squadron at some stage in his career. He served on the Near East (Suez?) between October and December 1956 and, along with many other RAF personnel he was MiD for this in the Queens Birthday Honours of June 1957. He rose to the rank of W/C on 1st July 1959 before retiring after a long and distinguished career on 10th December 1968.
Fred Braybrook was awarded the DFM for completing a Tour with 102 Squadron, (Gazetted in January 1942) the citation reads.."This airman's ability as a wireless operator-air gunner has contributed much to the success of the missions in which he has been engaged. Many of these have been undertaken in bad weather against targets at long distances. His cheerful enthusiasm, coolness under fire, and determined disposition have inspired all wireless operators and other aircrews in the squadron." He was commissioned on 26th October 1942 and later posted to 156 Squadron PFF for a second tour but was killed on 17th January 1943 flying in Halifax W7886 which crashed in Denmark. He was twenty two years old.
Sgt Charles Anderson was killed on 30th November 1941, he was nineteen years old and is buried in Kiel War Cemetery. He was flying in Whitley Z6800 which was hit by flak and crashed in the Kiel area.
Sgt Brown was reported missing on 8th November 1941 with 102 Squadron flying in Whitley Z6796. His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. He was twenty nine years old.
F/Sgt Buchanan was killed on 6th January 1942 in 102 Squadron Whitley Z9289 which crashed at Pogmoor, near Sheffield. He was twenty three years old and is buried in Doncaster (Rose Hill) Cemetery, Yorkshire. This incident is covered in the 1942 section to this website. He was born on 25th October 1918 in North Bottleford and enlisted in Vancouver in June 1940. He was working as a miner at the time. His brother F/Lt David Buchanan RCAF died on 27th March 1927 while flying in a Liberator from London to Dorval, Canada, via The Azores. His body was never found and is commemorated on the Ottawa Memorial. The Buchanan Island, in the Mynarski Lake is named in their honour.
The observer was probably Richard Keith Thomson RCAF. He was born on 28th December 1917 to Norman and Ruby Thomson in and enlisted into the RCAF in Saskatoon in July 1940. He later received a commission and was posted to 76 Squadron. On 31st March 1944 he was flying in Halifax LW696 on Ops to Nurnberg when the aircraft was shot down by a night-fighter. He is buried in Hanover War Cemetery. Lake Thomson in Saskatchewan is named in his honour.

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