Wick

The twin engine aircraft overshot and landed long. After touchdown, the aircraft failed to stop within the remaining distance, overran and collided with a concrete wall. All four crew members were injured while the aircraft was destroyed. Crew from the 269th Squadron.

The crew was completing a local training mission when the twin engine airplane crashed upon landing at Wick Airport. Both crew members were uninjured.
Crew:
P/O Peter Noel Trolove, pilot,
P/O Brinsden, pilot.

Late in the day the crew of this aircraft were tasked to fly to RAF Catterick and from there ferry a load of ammunition to Wick in Scotland. After loading the stores, six passengers boarded the aircraft. Sergeant Gaut selected the longest available take off run, but when half way across the airfield, the Whitley suddenly rose to about ten feet, followed by a near vertical climb at full throttle. Eye witnesses state that the bomber stalled, below 100 feet, and dived nose first into the ground, exploding on impact. Miraculously, two of the six passengers survived.
Crew (102nd Squadron):
Sgt Herbert John Gaut, pilot, †
P/O Reginald Arthur Morton Luckman, pilot and navigator, †
AC2 Charles Paterson, wireless operator and air gunner, †
Passengers:
AC1 John Baker, †
Sgt Arthur Vincent, †
Sgt Albert Harris, †
AC1 Horace Jones, †
Sgt Donald E Gibbs,
Cpl W. Jenkinson.

Source: W. R. Chorley.

The crew was performing a maritime patrol flight on behalf of the 712th Squadron. En route, the pilot lost control of the aircraft following an engine failure. The seaplane crashed into the sea off Wick and was lost. The fate of the crew is uncertain.