On the night of 13th / 14th July 1939 the crew of this 77 Squadron aircraft were undertaking a night flying exercise when it suffered an engine failure in the Middlesbrough area, the pilot ordered his three crew to abandon the aircraft by parachute which they did and landed without any problems. He then tried to force land the aircraft near Thornaby but hit a pylon while doing so and crashed. The aircraft was dismantled on site and removed by road for repair. It is not thought the pilot sustained serious injuries, he was 77 Squadron's Commanding Officer at the time. I thank Mr Paul McMillan for kindly supplying the crew list.
Pilot - W/Co John Bradbury DFC RAF (03153).
Pilot - Sgt Richard Walsh RAF (564425).
Pilot? - AC1 John Maurice Winnington Briggs RAF (551321).
? - AC2 Eric Gutteridge RAF (553589), of Bradford, Yorkshire.
John Bradbury transferred from the Army to the RFC in 1917 and flew in France. He then transferred to the RAF on its formation. In 1919 and 1920 he flew in Egypt and between 1921 to 1925 he was in India where he saw service in Waziristan in 1923 and 1925. In 1926 he returned to the UK and became a test pilot at Martlesham for time before receiving postings to numerous other units. As F/Lt he was presented with the DFC at Buckingham Palace on 27th February 1934. He was posted to 33 Squadron on 23rd September 1935 and later rose to S/Ldr on 1st April 1936, rising to W/Co on 1st January 1939. He took command of 77 Squadron on an unknown date but shortly after this incident at Thornaby he was posted to the Air Ministry, he was promoted to G/Cpt (temp) on 1st June 1941 and continued his service throughout WW2. He was Station Commanding Officer of RAF Marston Moor from 25th October 1941 to 21st January 1942. He relinquished his temporary rank of G/C on 1st November 1947 taking the rank of W/Co (subs) but was promoted back to G/C (subs) on 19th May 1949 and retired from the RAF the following day.
Sgt Richard Walsh was killed on Ops with 77 Squadron on 10th / 11th November 1939 flying in Whitley N1364. He was twenty six years old and is buried in Charmes Military Cemetery, Essegney, France.
John Briggs was born in Burnley, Lancashire in 1920 and was educated at Burnley Grammar School but was living at Arnside, (then in) Westmorland when he enlisted into the RAF in 1937. He later trained as a pilot and was awarded the DFM for service with 77 Squadron, Gazetted on 13th September 1940. He received his commission on 7th November 1941 to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) and received promotions to F/O on probation (war subs) on 1st October 1942 and later to F/Lt (war subs) on 7th November 1943. Having paired with John Custance Baker RAF (172487) as his navigator they served with No.1409 (Meteorological) Flight flying Mosquitoes assessing weather conditions ahead of Bomber Command raids. He was awarded the DFC, Gazetted on 13th October 1944 (Baker also the DFC) and the DSO, Gazetted later on 23rd March 1945 (Baker the Bar to the DFC) almost certainly for this work with the Met Flight. Both he and Baker were transferred to Transport Command and tasked with ferrying Mosquitoes built in Canada across the Atlantic to Britain although it appears they were later selected to fly Mosquitoes around Canada for war-loan publicity. While flying Mosquito LR503 on a low pass of Calgary airfield on 10th May 1945 the aircraft struck the control tower and crashed in front of a crowd and both men were killed. F/Lt Briggs was twenty five years old and is buried in Calgary (Burnside) Cemetery, Alberta, Canada. Hugh Halliday's Air Forces awards research has been used in compiling this entry.
Eric Gutteridge was the eighteen year old son of Mr and Mrs W Gutteridge of Tong Street, Bradford.
Whitley K8995 was built to contract 522438/36 by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and was delivered to 77 Squadron on 24th January 1939. Following this incident near Thornaby on 14th July 1939 it was taken to Airwork Ltd for repair on 5th September 1939 and it spent a year with them before being issued to 9 MU on 4th September 1940. Once accepted at MU was complete and it was fitted out it was transferred to 10 BGS on 2nd October 1940. It was transferred to 8 AGS early in 1941 but written off in a Cat.W/FA accident on 18th December 1941 when it undershot on landing at Evanton, Scotland and was struck off charge on 24th December 1941.