A 58 Sqdn Whitley at Linton on Ouse.
This Whitley, O for Orange, took off from Linton on Ouse at 19.00hrs on the 20th of October 1940. On its
return to England from bombing the Skoda factory in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia it became lost and
ran short of fuel. At the same time a Luftwaffe aircraft of the 1/NJG2 unit was flying an
specialist intruder mission over the north of England. It is claimed that the Whitley was shot
down by this aircraft piloted by Hauptmann Karl Hulshoff. It crashed into the hillside at
06.12hrs on the 21st of October where it burnt out. The pilot, P/O Brown was injured by flak
over the target and was not flying the aircraft at the time. The second pilot, Sgt Adlam had
taken over. The aircraft had been with the squadron for just eighteen days. As for the Luftwaffe claim,
it was the first known success against a Bomber Command aircraft by a German intruder over the
British mainland. Pilot Hulshoff claimed the aircraft as a Hereford! He survived the War.
Of the five crew, three died on the moor, one later in hospital and one lived.
The aircraft was built to contract 38599/39 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd at Baginton and delivered to 6 MU on 6th September 1940. It was
issued to 58 Sqdn on 3rd October 1940. It sustained Cat W/FB damage on the 21st October 1940 in the above crash and was struck off charge
on 27th October 1940.
Pilot - P/O Ernest H Brown RAF, aged 25, of Streatham, buried Wandsworth (Streatham) Cemetery, London - died on moor.
Pilot - Sgt Leonard F P Adlam RAFVR, aged 25, of Medway (?), buried Farnborough Cemetery - died on moor.
W Op / AG - Sgt Marcel C Caryll-Tilkin RAFVR, aged 29, buried at Thornaby on Tees Cemetery - died on moor. Husband of Rene Caryll-Tilkin.
Observer - Sgt Cyril S G Green RAFVR, aged 31, of Evesham, Worcs, buried Evesham, Worcs - died on the 23rd Oct in hospital of internal injuries. Husband of Edna Bell Green.
Rear Gunner - Sgt Robert E Langfield RAF - survived.
Sgt Caryll-Tilkin's grave at Thornaby on Tees and Sgt Green's grave at Evesham. Sgt Caryll-Tilkin (or Caryll de Tilkin) had survived a ditching of Whitley W1427 on 3rd September 1940 when he and his crew ran out of fuel on return from Ops to Genova. The crew of gour came ashore at Margate, Kent in the
aircrafts dinghy.
Botton Head - in the centre of the photograph.
A photograph of the Whitley taken at the time of crash and published in the out of print "White Rose Base" book by B J Rapier.
Rapiers "Warplanes Return 1" also states that an engine was buried at the site, it is not clear whether it is still there but I doubt it.
The same view in 2003.
John Skinn, Will Lund and myself visited the crash site for the first time in early 2003. Pine trees have been planted
just under the crash site, one large peice was found in these woods still baring its dark green paint. Small remains are still to be found above the tree line.
Some of the wreckage.
A photo of further wreckage in a gully taken in the 1970s, this is now part of the wood below the main site. My thanks to Mr G Sharpe for this photograph.
I've since been back to the crash site many times and located about all the wreckage I think is still at the site.
The RAF had taken what they wanted from the aircraft after the crash but after the War, a local farmer sledded some of the larger remains away, possibly to the scrap man, a number of years later the new tenant farmer at the same farm did the same with more of the aircrafts remains. I contacted the son of this second farmer in 2004 and he was led to believe that Sgt Green survived the actual crash after being thrown from the plane during the crash. Although this prolonged his life only slightly it saved him from being killed in the aircraft on impact. The same farmer also told me that there was a land slip from above where the aircraft crashed, caused by the crash. The photo taken at the time does seem to agree with this as there seems to be large rocks in the foreground of the photo.
