Whitley near Ebberston.
On the 27th of October 1940 this Whitley was returning from ops to Stettin (although the ARP report quotes
Cuxhaven as the target). After being hit by flak over the
German coast the aircraft began to have trouble in one engine. The crew struggled back to Northern England but were unable
to work out their position to be able to land back at base after descending to 1000 feet. The pilot turned the
aircraft around and made for the coast again before climbing to 6000 feet where upon the engine began to splutter.
The order to bale out was given, all the crew survived the jump. Sgt Livesey was reported to have landed close to a
search light site at Harwood Dale, so presumably the aircraft came back in over the coast north of Scarborough when the order
to bale out was given. Other crew members landed at Scalby, Hackness and further in land at Allerston. The aircraft came
down with a wing overhanging the Scarborough to Pickering railway line, just to the south of Ebberston where upon it burnt out.
Following this flight, P/O Crawford was
relieved of his duties of captaining a heavy bomber aircraft, one presumes that his superiors thought he should have been
able to land the aircraft without having to totally destroy it in the manner described above.
The aircraft was built to contract 38599/39 by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and delivered directly to 102 Sqdn at Driffield
in August 1940, It moved with the unit to Leeming on 25th August 1940 then on to Prestwick on 1st September 1941 before arriving at
Linton on 10th October 1940. It was written off in the incident detailed above with Cat.W/Burnt damage being recorded.
Pilot - P/O Jack S G Crawford RAF, aged 19, of Harrow, Middlesex - ok.
2nd Pilot - P/O Edward R Osborn RAF, aged 21, of Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand - ok.
? - Sgt Walter Livesey RAF - ok.
? - Sgt George E West RAF, aged 24, of Gipsyville, Hull - ok.
? - Sgt R Adams RAF - ok.
The area of where the Whitley crashed.
An aerial view of Ebberston which shows the crash site as it was in December 2005 (crash site is marked by the red blob). (Photo Mr Dave Vitty)
By talking to locals in Ebberston the aircraft came down just to the west of the modern-day plant centre at the southern edge of the village.
The site is said to be in the field shown in the photograph above. From time to time small items are ploughed up towards the edge of the field.
I have not carried out any work at the crash site.
The three who survived this incident were to go missing some weeks later, their names are on the Runnymede Memorial.
Just over a month after the Ebberston incident, on 28th November 1940, Osborn, Livesey and West were part of a crew flying
Whitley P5077 DY-B, also of 102 Sqdn, Topcliffe. The aircraft left Topcliffe never to be seen again. The crew of five are listed on the
Runnymede Memorial.
P/O Crawford was killed on 15th March 1944. Lancaster LM392 BQ-J of 550 Sqdn he was captaining crashed near Artolschein, Bas-Rhein in France.
The whole of his new crew were killed and were buried in the local cemetery.
By the time of his death of was married to Pauline May Crawford.