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Date: | Friday 7 November 1941 |
Time: | 12:50 |
Type: | Supermarine Spitfire Mk Ia |
Owner/operator: | 53 OTU RAF |
Registration: | X4772 |
MSN: | 1294 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Cefncarnau, on Caerphilly Mountain, Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Llandow, Glamorgan |
Destination airport: | |
Narrative:Spitfire Mk.1a X4772: First Flown 13-11-40. Delivered to the RAF at 8 MU Little Rissington 14-11-40. First issued to 152 Squadron 1-12-40. transferred to 53 OTU 24-6-41
Written off (destroyed) 7-11-41: In good weather on 7 November 1941, the pilot began a one-hour training flight in a Supermarine Spitfire which consisted of 45 minutes’ formation flying followed by 15 minutes’ individual aerobatics. At 12.50 pm he crashed into Cefncarnau, on Caerphilly Mountain. The official investigation concluded that he climbed steeply after low flying and stalled at the top of the climb. The engine cut out and the aircraft spun, bursting into flames on impact with the ground. Struck off charge 12-11-41. Pilot - Sgt. Ivan Raymond TRAFFORD, RCAF (R/63053) - was killed
Ivan’s body was taken to Caerphilly Miners’ Hospital. He was buried in Llantwit Major. A memorial has been erected to commemorate his loss. The idea for the memorial took root after Harry Lewis and Matthew Ferris found a police report on the accident in the Glamorgan Archives. Harry Lewis was a schoolboy in 1941, and died in 2010. Mr Ferris, a teacher at St Martin’s School in Caerphilly, took the project forward to completion, with the help of the Caerphilly branch of the Royal British Legion. The memorial features a replica Spitfire propeller, mounted on stone reclaimed from a local primary school.
Sources:
1. Halley, J, 1984, Air Britain, Royal Air force Aircraft X1000 - X9999, Z1000 - Z9999, p 17
2.
http://www.ggat.org.uk/timeline/pdf/Military%20Aircraft%20Crash%20Sites%20in%20Southeast%20Wales.pdf 3.
http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p015.html 4.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2717412/trafford,-ivan-raymond/ 5.
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?24378-1941-Unaccounted-Airmen-Database-Reconciliation/page7&p=142613#post142613 6.
https://www.stmartins.caerphilly.sch.uk/news/?pid=9&nid=1&storyid=12 7.
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2717412 8.
http://historypoints.org/index.php?page=canadian-spitfire-pilot-memorial-caerphilly Images:
From I series of images I took on my visit 5 years ago.
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
24-May-2019 01:48 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
24-May-2019 01:50 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Date] |
24-May-2019 01:51 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Narrative] |
24-May-2019 18:18 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Narrative] |
25-May-2019 11:06 |
stehlik49 |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location] |
22-Oct-2019 16:21 |
Davies 62 |
Updated [Photo] |
21-Apr-2020 12:20 |
Anon. |
Updated [Photo] |