Whitley Z6871 damaged by flak, landed safely at Topcliffe airfield.
On the night of 26th / 27th August 1941 the crew of this 102 Squadron aircraft were tasked with flying an operational flight to bomb Cologne and left Topcliffe
airfield at 22.00hrs. The aircraft bombed the target area from 10,000 feet but was slightly damaged by flak, the crew were able to make a safe return
to Topcliffe and land there at 05.25hrs where the aircraft was soon repaired. The aircraft exploded at Topcliffe on 31st August 1941 as it was being
loaded with bombs prior to an operational flight, three of the crew involved in this minor flak incident were to have flown in the same aircraft when
it exploded but were not in the aircraft at the time.
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 the 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 an explosion occurred at Topcliffe and it was damaged, Cat.A damage was the result and it was again repaired on site and returned
to 102 Squadron. On 30th September 1941 it crashed on the North York 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.
? - Sgt R Williams.
? - 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 permanent rank of F/Lt on 9th March 1949. I have located 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.
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.
F/Sgt Buchanan was killed on 6th January 1942 in 102 Squadron Whitley Z9289 which crashed at Pogmoor, near Sheffield. He was 23 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.
Sgt Thomson was probably one navigator Sgt Richard Keith Thomson RCAF; if so he was later commisioned and was posted to 76 Squadron. He was
killed while in the rank of F/O on 31st March 1944 and buried in Hanover War Cemetery.