Date:	Friday 21 July 1939
Time:	day
Type:	Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk III
Owner/operator:	166 Sqn RAF
Registration:	K9002
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Scorbrough Rise, Beverley near RAF Leconfield, East Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Leconfield, East Yorkshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk III K9002: On 21st July 1939 this 166 Squadron aircraft took off from Leconfield at 01.10hrs to undertake a basic night training flight. On board were three pilots, the two officers were inexperienced at night flying and were being given instruction by the other airman who was the more experienced pilot despite his lesser rank. The weather was passable for night flying at Leconfield, although misty conditions were in the area they were not deemed dangerous at that time. This Whitley was one fitted with dual controls and the lesser experienced pilots were to undertake a series of basic night time circuits of the airfield to practicing taking off, flying a circuit of the airfield, landing and repeating. It was found that after the first take off nothing more from the aircraft was seen or heard.

Around eight hours later the smouldering wreckage of the Whitley was found by a farmer in a field between Scorborough and Lockington with the three airmen's bodies being located nearby. Damage to trees nearby had led the investigation to believe it had initially flown through the tops of trees before flying into and through a lone tree in a field, breaking up and then crashing shortly after. A fire had totally destroyed the aircraft. The photograph shown above is of the crash site and appeared in the Hull Daily Mail. Looking at the statements in the Coroner's inquest it appears the aircraft had either clipped the tops of trees in either Lake's Wood or Snowclose Plantation. On 2nd February 1945 Halifax MZ492 would crash in pretty much the same place doing exactly the same as the crew of Whitley K9002 with the same result. All three crew were killed:

Pilot - Sgt Philip Mealing RAF (564955), aged 24, of Salisbury, Wiltshire. Cremated Southampton.
Pilot - P/O George Buchanan Baker RAF, aged 21 of Fife. Buried Newburgh Cemetery, Fife.
Pilot - P/O Joseph Murray Brockbank RAF, aged 19, of Staveley, Westmorland. Buried Leconfield Churchyard, Yorkshire.

According to the official Air Ministry announcement in "Flight" magazine (July 29, 1939 page 84 - see link #5):

"FLYING ACCIDENTS
P/O George Buchanan Baker, P/O . Joseph Murray Brockbank, and Sgt. Phillip Mealing lost their lives in an accident which occurred at Scarborough on July 21 to an aircraft of No. 166 Squadron."

Joseph Brockbank received a commission to the rank of Acting P/O on probation on 19th February 1938 and was later graded as P/O on 29th November 1938. He is buried in Leconfield churchyard and is commemorated by a memorial within Staveley Church, Westmorland. He was attached to 166 Squadron from 51 Squadron at the time of his death.

George Baker received a commission to the rank of Acting P/O on probation on 30th November 1938 and was later graded as P/O on 27th September 1938. He was attached to 166 Squadron from 78 Squadron at the time of his death.

Philip Mealing was born in Europa, Gibraltar on 3rd September 1914 and was the son of Warrant Officer Harold Leslie and Jennet Ann Mealing. W/O Mealing was serving in the Royal Artillery Battery Gibraltar. The family moved to England in 1923 when his father was posted to the Woolwich Arsenal. His father later transferred to a civilian post in the physics section at Porton Down Research Establishment, Wiltshire so the family move to Salisbury, Wiltshire. Philip attended the Bishop Wordsworth Cathedral School. He appears to have joined the RAF as a boy entrant as he is recorded as having served for nine years in the RAF. While in the RAF he became the middleweight boxing champion for at least one year. Following his death there service at St. John's Church, Bemerton, Salisbury.

Whitley K9002 was built by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton to contract 522438/36. It was allotted to 97 Squadron on 31st January 1939 and was received by them on 13th February 1939. The date it was transferred to 166 Squadron is not known. As a result of the accident on 21st July 1939 the aircraft was written off with Cat.W/FA damage being the result of the assessment for the paperwork.

Scorborough is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Leconfield, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the A164 road, about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Beverley and 8 miles (13 km) south of Driffield. In 1931 the parish had a population of 85. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Leconfield.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1976 page 75)
2. http://www.santafe.gov.ar/hemerotecadigital/diario/18563/
3. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939.htm
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?843-Collision-21st-July-1939
5. (Paywall) https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1939/1939-1-%20-%200276.PDF
6. http://scottishwargraves.phpbbweb.com/scottishwargraves-post-29106.html
7. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/19/W669: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6576873
8. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-armstrong-whitworth-aw38-whitley-iii-raf-leconfield-3-killed
9. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/280179/
10. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/280180/
11. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/280181/
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorborough

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-Aug-2016 13:09	TB	Added
26-Nov-2017 00:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Total occupants, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
23-Dec-2017 18:23	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Narrative, ]
30-Mar-2018 18:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative, ]
30-Mar-2018 18:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
02-Nov-2018 18:02	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator, ]
14-May-2024 21:38	Nepa	Updated [Location, Operator, ]
15-Aug-2025 07:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, Category, ]