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Date: | Saturday 7 May 1938 |
Time: | day |
Type: | Miles Magister Mk I |
Owner/operator: | 3 E&RFTS RAF |
Registration: | L5972 |
MSN: | 404 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Locksheath, near Botley, Hampshire -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Hamble, Hampshire |
Destination airport: | |
Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Narrative:Miles Magister Mk.I L5972, 3 ERFTS, Hamble; Written off (destroyed) 7.5.38 when spun into ground at Locksheath, near Botley, Hampshire. Pilot - Sgt Stephen Henry Douglas Leech, RAFVR (aged 18) was killed. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Portsmouth Evening News" Monday 9 May 1938):
"YOUTH KILLED IN PLANE CRASH.
Locksheath Tragedy.
R.A.F. VOLUNTEER RESERVIST'S FATE.
An 18-year-old member of the R.A.F. Volunteer Reserve was killed when the plane in which he was flying solo crashed in a strawberry plot at Locksheath late Saturday afternoon. He was Stephen Henry Douglas Leech, of St. Aubyn's Avenue, Bitterne, Southampton. He was engaged in week-end training at the Air Service Training, Hamble, and was practising spins over Locksheath.
He failed to rise after one of the spins and crashed to the ground near the home of Mr. Ernest Frank Oakford, of Sunnyside, Crescent Road, Locksheath. Mr. Oakford was working nearby when he saw the plane crash about 20 yards from his house. "I saw the plane diving towards me," he told an Evening News representative. "I ran to the plane and found the pilot lying a few feet from it. He had been thrown out, and was dead." Leech was the son of Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Leech, of Southampton."
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-N9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain)
2. Western Daily Press - Monday 09 May 1938
3.
http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939.htm 4.
http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=7964.0;wap2 5.
http://www.delscope.co.uk/aviation/hamble.htm#CRA 6.
http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html 7.
https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1938/1938%20-%201389.PDF Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
19-May-2008 21:02 |
JINX |
Added |
07-Mar-2010 22:10 |
rabbl1876 |
Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Phase, Source, Narrative] |
08-Feb-2018 20:08 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
27-Feb-2018 00:24 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Narrative] |
12-Mar-2018 16:27 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source] |
19-Oct-2018 19:23 |
Nepa |
Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator] |
17-Feb-2020 04:43 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source] |
14-Oct-2020 17:08 |
matthew@bolberry.org |
Updated [Cn] |