On the night of the 29th September 1941, ten 102 Sqduadron aircraft took off from Topcliffe to bomb Stettin railway station, this particular Whitley took off at 18.53 hrs. The weather over the target was described as "clear with ground haze and flak was moderate to heavy". This aircraft was first from the squadron to bomb and attacked from 12,000 feet, flashes were seen in the area which was already burning on the ground. In total 95 aircraft of a force of 139 aircraft of various types bombed around four aiming points in Stettin, over all good bombing was reported.
During the early morning of the 30th of September 1941 the crew were well into their return leg of the flight and was more or less on course for their home base at Topcliffe. They crossed the Yorkshire coast at around 03.30hrs in the Middlesbrough area and a course was set for base at Topcliffe, at a height of 2000 feet to avoid striking the high ground they would have to cross over. There were no problems upto then in the flight. Afew minutes later at 03.55 hrs the aircraft flew into the ground on the North Yorkshire Moors above Danby, in the region of Danby Head (or Fryup Head). The front end of the aircraft was badly damaged in the impact but it did not catch fire, when the aircraft finally came to a halt the crew were able to scramble out, all but the second pilot that is, he was sadly killed in the impact, he was on his first trip and was thrown from the aircraft in the impact. The observer, who was uninjured and the other pilot, who had a slight cut to the head decided they would go for help, not knowing where they were they made their way off the moor and eventually found a farm some hours later, the farmer then took them to up to Danby Beacon Chain Home station for help. Some time later the airmen along with the help finally arrived back at the crash site, following a long walk from the nearest road where their lorry had parked. It was not until 13.00hrs until all airmen were back at the lorry at the nearest road. They finally arrived back at Topcliffe four hours later, where upon they found that their lockers had already been cleared out on the assumption they would not be returning. The crash was put down to the pilot falling asleep at the controls, because of this the aircraft had descended and crashed into the high ground which it was flying over.
The aircraft had been built to contract 106962/40 by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd at Baginton. It was delivered to the RAF in July 1941 and after acceptance issued to 102 Sqdn in the same month. Following this incident the aircraft was recovered with the aim of it being repaired, this was not done, it was declared a write off some days later on 30th September 1941 with Cat E2/FB damage.
The airman killed was :
Pilot - Sgt Donald K Kibbe RCAF, aged 23, of Westfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Buried Topcliffe Cemetery, Yorkshire. Enlisted into the RCAF. He was buried on the 6th of October 1941 at Topcliffe Cemetery.
Those who survived this crash were:
Pilot - P/O D B Delaney RAF - slightly injured, cut above his eye.
Obs - Sgt Philip L N (Len) Trehearn RAFVR - ok. Husband of Margaret Trehearn.
W Op / AG - Sgt Charles (Maxie) Miller RAF, of Edinburgh - injured, cut forehead.
W Op / AG - Sgt Ronald Gayler RAFVR - injured, broken nose.
Air Gunner - Sgt Clifford Carr RAFVR, of Newcastle-on-Tyne - ok. Husband of Annie Carr.
Pilot P/O Delaney had completed a total of 121 hours night flying on Whitley's when this accident occured and a grand total of 245 hours on all types of aircraft, day and night.
Sgt Kibbe's grave at Topcliffe Cemetery.
two photographs of Sgt Len Trehearn. Sgt Trehearn was sadly to be killed on 14th April 1942 when the Halifax he was in crashed near Baldersby, Thirsk whilst on an airtest. He is buried at Rhyl in Wales. I would like to thank Mr P. Trehearn, son of Sgt Len Trehearn, for contacting me and for much of the information on the flight and crash near Danby detailed above and for the photograph of his father shown on the left. Without which I doubt I would have ever learned the full story of the crash. My thanks also to Jim Rutland for the right hand photograph.
Charles Miller is shown on the photograph seated on the left (photo Mr E. Cooke, ex 102 Sqdn, my thanks to him for this photo and his information and memories). The full line up is as follows, (back row L-R, Jim Frazer KiA June 42, Alec Jaggers KiA Aug 41, ???, Eric Borsberry, ???, Front Row L-R Maxie Miller, George Davidson KiA Dec 43)
I am led to believe that the Whitley crashed somewhere in the area shown in this photograph. However on searching
the area I found nothing. Whilst all available grid references suggest the site is in the Region of Danby Head nothing has ever been found here
by anyone that I am aware of. Myself and John Skinn are in the belief that the aircraft crashed at the head of the next valley east - Fryupdale. Whilst we have searched a fairly wide area
having no grid ref to go on makes the search hard.
F/Sgt Carr went missing on 7 Dec 1942, he was 30 years old and was still with 102 Sqdn.
The crew (minus the pilots) had a lucky escape on 31st Aug 1941 when their Whitley blew up on take off, all survived.
None of the crew were on the aircraft at the time, it was thought that a delay on one of the bombs had been faulty causing
the whole aircraft to exploded.
As for the others, not much is known. D B Delaney 63472 was promoted to P/O from F/O on 3 April 1942. Ronald Gayler 128407, awarded a DFC in Jan 1943.
Delaney may well have reach the rank of Wing Commander, having served with 114 Sqdn at some stage. A book for sale on the internet some time ago appear to have been his and had his name and details hand written inside the cover.
I would also like to thank Mr E Cooke for the photograph of Charles Miller and for recounting his memories of this night with me.