Date:	Monday 2 March 1942
Time:
Type:	Airspeed Oxford Mk I
Owner/operator:	45 MU RAF
Registration:	L4597
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Loch Laidon, 4 miles SW of Rannoch, Perthshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Teversham. Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:	RAF Kinloss, Morayshire

Narrative:
First Officer William Silver Edgar: Born 7 Oct 1906, Waco TX. ('Silver' came from his mother Estelle's maiden name). Educated at Baylor University, Waco. Served as 2nd Lieut., Army Air Corps 1932-35. Author of "Wings across the World", Syndicated newspaper writer. Also a pilot, rancher, and with some 'Banking experience'

Previous flying experience before joining the RAF: about 900 hours. Address in 1941: 1305 Jefferson Ave, Waco, Texas

Postings: 4 Ferry Pilots Pool

His initial ATA test described him as "a rather nervous type, but general flying fair. An excellent officer. A keen and reliable pilot."

He had a nasty forced landing on the 2 Mar 1942, in Airspeed Oxford L4597 following an engine failure. "He crash-landed on the ice of Loch Laidon but returned to the burning aircraft and saved the Log Books and his kit. The ice broke under him before he reached the shore and he was completely immersed. He then walked nine miles before he found a barn for shelter."

During 1978 the two Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah engines from L4597 were recovered by the Scotland West Aircraft Investigation Group using a raft. Subsequently the engines were restored by staff at Rolls Royce’s Hillington site. At least one of them was subsequently put on display at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland.

He put in a request for a replacement cap, but before this could be actioned he was killed in another accident: KIA 2 April 1942 (Killed in ATA Service) while flying Spitfire BM358, which crashed at Chapel of Garioch, 20 miles North West of Dyce, (or possibly at nearby Boghead, about 4 miles southwest of Inverurie) on a flight from Castle Bromwich to Kinloss.

Buried at the Cambridge American Cemetery, and commemorated at Baylor University: "William Silver Edgar lights up Fountain Mall every day and Robert Warren illuminates the courtyard by the Carroll Science Hall. These two men, along with 123 other Baylor men and women, made the supreme sacrifice in World War II. Now they stand as the honor guard at Baylor in the form of red granite light posts."

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-N9999 (Jame J. Halley, Air Britain)
2. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/scotland/airspeed-oxford-l4597-rannoch-moor/
3. http://afleetingpeace.org/the-ata/index.php/9-lists?start=4
4. https://canmore.org.uk/site/293842/airspeed-oxford-i-loch-laidon
5. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.baaa-acro.com/1942/archives/crash-of-an-airspeed-as-10-oxford-in-united-kingdom-18/]

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
20-Mar-2008 07:40	JINX	Added
18-Jan-2012 02:03	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Phase, Source]
03-Aug-2013 12:15	JINX	Updated [Operator, Source]
07-Dec-2014 06:29	Siczak	Updated [Operator]
27-Jul-2017 22:36	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]