ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 207003
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| Date: | Friday 12 February 1937 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Hawker Hart |
| Owner/operator: | 5 FTS RAF |
| Registration: | K4931 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Esclusham Mountain, Minera, near Wrexham, Denbeighshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Sealand, Flintshire |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Hawker Hart K4931, 5 FTS, RAF Sealand, Flintshire: Written off (destroyed) 12/2/37 when dived into the ground, on the 1,550-foot (473 metre) Esclusham Mountain, Ruabon Moor near Minera, Wrexham, Denbeighshire. Pilot - Acting Pilot Officer Arthur Simpson (aged 24) - was killed
The pilot was carrying out a day cross country exercise from RAF Sealand near Chester, the weather was reported to be low cloud with frequent snow showers. When Acting Pilot Officer Simpson failed to return, he was reported overdue and a search for him and his aircraft began.
Initially the search was concentrated to the north and west of Sealand with Lifeboats put on standby to put to sea if anything was spotted. Reports came through an aircraft flying in the Whitchurch area of Shropshire so for a time the search was directed into that area. All searches stopped over night and it was the following morning when the wreckage of the missing aircraft was discovered by a shepherd working on the moorland above the village of Minera.
He had spotted it from some distance away through binoculars and went over to investigate the unusual shape. Once the crash was reported it was discovered that quarry workers near Minera had heard the distance sound of a crash the previous day but being unaware of the missing aircraft had thought nothing more about it.
The aircraft had dived into the moorland at fairly high speed with much of the forward end of the aircraft embedded in the ground.
Acting Pilot Officer Simpson had only been a member of the Royal Air Force since the autumn of 1936 (he received his commission to the rank of Acting Pilot Officer on the 12th October), he had served with the Territorial Army before this point at the rank of Lieutenant in the 5th King’s Own Royal (Lancaster) Regiment.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1976 page 38)
2. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1937.htm
3. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/wales/hawker-hart-k4931-esclusham-mountain/
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esclusham_Mountain
5. https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1937/1937%20-%200453.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 03-Mar-2018 20:09 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 08-Apr-2018 21:24 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 23-Nov-2018 18:03 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Nature, Operator] |
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