Stillington -Pre 1960

Whitley Bomber Crash - Seaton Hills Oct 1941 - From Northern Echo Mon 20th July 2015 - Reporter Chris Webber

A SON of an RAF flight sergeant made an emotional journey to the exact spot where his father's plane crashed in the Second World War.

Colin Whitehorn explained that his father, Rowland, survived the accident in 1941 but was not able to fly again in the war and his burns were so bad he became one of the original 'guinea pigs' to be treated by pioneering plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe.

His father only very rarely talked about the crash at a field between Thorpe Thewles and Stillington, near Stockton, and Mr Whitehorn, of Hemel Hempstead, near Watford, only began investigating the accident in later life.

Also visiting the scene earlier today (Sunday) was David Kennedy, of Stillington, who remembered seeing the burnt out Whitley plane as an 11-year-old child, along with his cousin, Denise Whitehorn, who lives at North Skelton, east Cleveland, and local amateur historians.

Mr Whitehorn, born in 1946, said his accountant father was "my hero" who had been on bombing missions to Germany but later suffered taunts in his working life due to his burns and plastic surgery.

On the night of Thursday, October 16 1941 the Whitley bomber, based at Middleton St George, now Durham Tees Valley Airport, had been on circuit training exercises and but one engine failed early on. Later it is thought a second engine failed and the pilot, Bertram Owen-Smith, decided to try and land the plane, however it lurched leftwards, possibly after hitting a tree, and crashed to ground. A severed tree can still be found at the scene as can the beck which the men used to douse themselves as the plane, which was fully fuelled, took fire. A local doctor came to the scene and administered brandy and used up his supply of bandages.

Three of the four-man crew were badly burned, including Rowland Whitehorn, who was known as Freddie to his comrades and was 21 at the time. Also hurt was Bertram Owen-Smith and navigator, Sergeant Gerry Dufort, who is still alive. The fourth man, Sergeant Thomas Lloyd Kidd, an air gunner in the rear turret, was not seriously hurt.

Rowland Whitehorn, who died in 2007, was described by his son as a quiet man. He spent two-and-a-half years in hospital after the crash but kept in touch with other 'McIndoe guinea pigs' for the rest of his life. Mr Whitehorn remembered his father only once more flying a plane when he was an air cadet.The retired driver said: "There's wasn't the same kind of information technology when I was younger and it was harder to research but I am glad I have. It was a bit emotional to see where it actually happened. My father was really my hero all my life

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