ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 14896
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| Date: | Wednesday 9 August 1939 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Bristol Blenheim Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 39 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | L1546 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Kutumba, Aurangabad, Bihar State -
 India
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Risalpur, Nowshera District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, India |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Bristol Blenheim Mk.I L1546, 39 Squadron, RAF Risalpur: Written off (destroyed) 9/8/39 when struck by lightning, caught fire and crashed at Kutumba, Aurangabad, Bihar State, India. Three of the five persons on board were killed:
Wing Commander Burton Ankers DSO DCM (age 46) killed
Corporal Robert Samuel Gilbert killed
AC1 Arthur Reginald Harris killed
AC2 Richard Wallace Bloss baled out
Mr Cecil Rendle Tapper baled out
According to the official Air Ministry announcement in "Flight" magazine (August 17, 1939 page 181 - see link #3)
"FLYING ACCIDENT
Wing Cdr. Burton Ankers, Cpl. Robert Samuel Gilbert and A/C.1 Arthur Reginald Harris, lost their lives as the result of an accident which occurred at Kutumba, India, on August 9 to an aircraft of No. 39 Squadron. Wing Cdr. Ankers was the pilot of the aircraft and Cpl. Gilbert and A/C.1 Harris were members of the crew. The other occupants of the aircraft, A/C.2 Richard Wallace Bloss and Mr. C.R. Tapper, escaped by parachute."
The reason that Cecil Tapper (a civilian) was on board a military aircraft (Blenheim L1546) appears to be that he was an aircraft engineer, and the Indian area representative of the Bristol Aeroplane Company.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-N9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1983)
2. Fallen Eagles: Airmen Who Survived The Great War Only to Die in Peacetime pages 231-234 By Norman Franks
3. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Accf1939.htm
4. https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1939/1939-1-%20-%200535.PDF
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?13672-39-Sqn-ORB-for-1939-Missing-Blenheim-L1546-Loss-Kutumba-India-August-9-1939
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 29-Feb-2008 13:34 | JINX | Added |
| 26-Jun-2013 18:55 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Source] |
| 03-Aug-2013 11:59 | JINX | Updated [Operator] |
| 15-Dec-2014 18:09 | Jixon | Updated [Operator, Source] |
| 01-Apr-2018 16:25 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 06-Oct-2018 06:45 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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