Whitley near Markington.

On the 6th of September 1941 the crew of this Whitley took off from Middlton St George at 20.25hrs to bomb Huls. On their return they were attacked by an enemy intruder aircraft. The Whitley crashed at 03.15hrs to the north of Markington (not south east as Chorley's loss book states). The crew are not believed to have been seriously injured. The pilot had been involved in another crash two months previously when he force-landed another Whitley near Kepwick, this incident being detailed on my North Yorkshire Moors section to this website. The crew could well have been the same.

Pilot - Sgt Bernard Thomas McColl Jones RAAF,

Nav - Sgt Jones

Obs - Sgt Miller

WOp - Sgt Vere

AG - Sgt Rouse.

Sgt Jones RAAF was born 29th September 1918 at St Kilda, Victoria, he enlisted in Melbourne 27th May 1940. Jones survived the War and was discharged as a F/Lt on 28th September 1945, he was posted to Bramcote at his discharge.

In June 2007 Ken Reast showed me where aircraft crashed. He had located the site some years previously and had found fragments of the aircraft in the field. The field is private but the aircraft crashed on the top of this hill and towards to the right of the photograph.