This aircraft took off at 17.27hrs on 14th October 1940, they reached target of Stettin and bombed from 8,000 feet.
On the crews return the wireless failed and they were unable to pick up a diversion signal telling them
to go to another airfield because of bad weather over north-east
England. At 04.30 hrs after being airborne for 11 hours and 5 minutes the crew were ordered to abandon the aircraft at 4500ft in
10/10ths cloud when it ran out of
fuel.
The Whitley came down between Bagby and Thirsk on farmland near Green Dyke Farm.
For some reason two of the crew did not jump in time and their bodies were found in the wreckage, three others survived uninjured.
One of the crew who did bale out an air gunner landed very close to a search light battery site. 78 aircraft took part in
the raid to Stettin and other targets on this night.
The aircraft was built to contract 38599/39 by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton and delivered directly to 10 Sqdn at Leeming in
August 1940. It sustained Cat.W/Burnt damage in the incident detailed above. The engines were deemed re-usable in this stage in the War, they were
given Cat R damage and probably used for spares.
The crew were:
Pilot - F/Lt D G Tomlinson RAF - ok.
? - Sgt Byrne - ok.
? - Sgt Somerville - ok.
Obs - P/O Robert J Dickinson RAFVR, aged 31, of Chelsea, London. Buried Leeming Churchyard, Yorkshire.
(His headstone states that he was from Hawkstone, Fernhurst, Sussex).
W Op - Sgt Leslie P Neville RAFVR, aged 26, of Forest Hill, London. Buried Leeming Churchyard, Yorkshire.
Headstones of the two airmen killed.
I have yet to locate the crash site.
The pilot F/Lt Tomlinson had gained his Wings in December 1936 at Grantham. He made a forced landing a month prior to this incident at Bagby
only afew miles north of Thirsk at Nether Silton and had his rear gunner jump from his aircraft on another flight (for an unknown reason, the aircraft returned home).