Stradishall

Whitley T4165 arrives from Dishforth. This is the second Whitley sent to 1419 Flight which had taken part in the Operation COLOSSUS raid. As they are already converted for dropping teams of paratroops, the modifications required for agent-dropping have already been carried out, and both aircraft are equipped with long-range overflow fuel tanks. (The first Whitley, T4166, arrived on 1 March, and has just been used on SAVANNA.) On the website for No. 102 (Ceylon) Squadron, Wally Lashbrook, T4165’s pilot on the COLOSSUS raid, describes how T4165 had been damaged in Malta during an air raid in the days after the operation, and had been repaired with a rudder constructed from non- Whitley parts. This get-you-home repair has presumably been rectified on T4165’s return to the UK.