Date:	Thursday 21 January 1943
Time:	afternoon
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	1472 Flt RAF
Registration:	L5140
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	1 mile E of Streatlam, 3 miles NE of Barnard Castle, Co. Durham -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Catterick, North Yorkshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
1472 Flight RAF was formed 15 June 1942 as No.1472 (Anti-Aircraft and Army Co-operation) Flight in No. 33 Wing at Dishforth with Tomahawk and Battle aircraft for air co-operation with the GHQ Home Forces Battle School, Barnard Castle. Moved on 16.1.43 to RAF Catterick, where Hurricanes replaced the Battles and later the Tomahawks; Disbanded 15.11.43.

On 21 January 1943 the engine of the Battle I L5140 of 1472 (Anti-Aircraft and Army Co-operation) Flight RAF failed during an afternoon sortie. The pilot, Flying Officer Lee, attempted a forced landing one mile East of Streatlam Park, 3 miles North East of Barnard Castle, County Durham, but struck a tank. The aircraft was a complete write off, but the pilot was uninjured.

The unit is given as being 1472 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Flight in pretty much every modern reference to this number unit that I can find. The 1472 Flight record book (see link #3) gives the unit title as being 1472 (D-B) Flight, or 1472 (Dive-Bombing) Flight. Which is correct is anyone's guess. As the scribe of the orb was there at the time I'm leaning towards 1472 (D-B) Flight being correct.

Battle L5140 was built to contract 540408/36 by the Austin Motor Co. Ltd. at Longbridge and was delivered to 19 MU at St. Athan on 6th June 1939. It was then taken on charge by 1 AAS at Manby on 20th July 1940. On 21st August 1941 it was transferred to 16 (P)FTS at Hucknall. On 13th February 1942 it was taken to David Rosenfield Ltd, at Barton Airfield for unspecified repairs. With this complete on 2nd May 1942 it was flown to 9 MU at Cosford. On 19th June 1942 it was taken on charge by 1472 Flight at Dishforth. It sustained minor Cat. A/FA damage there on 3rd December 1942, and was repaired on site. Moved to Catterick with the unit on 16th January 1943. Just days later, on 21st January 1943 it was written off following a collision with a tank near Streatlam, Barnard Castle as per the above. Cat.E2/FA damage was the damage assessment, but as the Fairey Battle was an obsolescent type by January 1943, it was probably struck off charge, as there are no records of the airframe after this date.

At this time there were six army camps located in the Barnard Castle area. Two (Humbleton and Westwick) formed the new Infantry Battle School, three (Streatlam, Deerbolt and Barford) were for Royal Armoured Corps training and Stainton was a mixture of both and the HQ camp for the area. Streatlam Castle Estate was awash with tanks and armoured cars - utilised for initial driver training. This extended into the fields and roads between the two camps of Streatlam and Barford. Under the circumstances, any aircraft attempting to land in this vicinity would stand a good chance of colliding with an armoured vehicle being used for training purposes or simply laid up in a makeshift vehicle park.
Curiously there are other records of early ground/air coordination exercises taking place on the moors just west of this area. Curtiss Tomahawk AH744 also based at Catterick's 1472 DB flight, fatally crashed nearby on 10/02/1943.

1. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997 p.144)
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1979 p.37)
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/870/1: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7161910?descriptiontype=Full&ref=AIR+29/870
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?7791-430121-Unaccounted-airmen-21-1-1943
5. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/york42/l5140.html
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streatlam_Castle
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnard_Castle
8. http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=54.571000&lon=-1.870000&z=13
9. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/04284.php
.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
26-Mar-2008 01:31	JINX	Added
19-Jul-2008 09:14	Anon.	Updated
22-May-2009 02:57	Anon.	Updated
15-Jan-2012 02:46	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Phase, Source]
23-Jul-2013 00:37	JINX	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative]
03-Aug-2013 16:54	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
14-Aug-2013 21:48	JINX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location]
11-Sep-2013 03:37	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Nature]
04-Jun-2015 21:26	Uzi	Updated [Operator]
21-Jan-2016 20:51	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Source, Narrative]
07-Feb-2018 09:53	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Aircraft type]
26-Oct-2020 21:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Other fatalities, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
27-Oct-2020 08:26	Uzi	Updated [Operator, Operator]
29-Oct-2020 00:01	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source]
07-Jan-2022 17:41	Dave M	Updated [Narrative]