ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 1671
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| Date: | Wednesday 1 April 1942 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Boulton Paul Defiant TT Mk II |
| Owner/operator: | 7 AGS RAF |
| Registration: | AA293 |
| MSN: | 663 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Llangewydd, 1 mile North East of RAF Stormy Down, Bridgend, Glamorgan -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Stormy Down, Bridgend, Glamorgan |
| RAF Stormy Down, Bridgend, Glamorgan |
Much has been said about 7 Air Gunnery School at RAF Stormy Down and the aircraft types that operated there. So, the story of Defiant AA293 is very similar to the other Defiants that came to grief flying from Stormy Down.
AA293 had its first accident on the 28th of January 1942 when under the control of Sgt C. H. Armour landed and on the turn to taxi over to the hard standing skidded on the slippery grass causing the port under-carriage unit to collapse. AA293 was a mark 2 built at the Boulton Paul works as the dedicated night fighter version. But as time went on, the Defiant became obsolete and relegated to training. 150 mark 2’s were converted to the TT MkI, some retained the turret until the dedicated Target Towing Defiant Mk III took over this role. It is unclear if AA293 still had its turret or even if it was used in the TT role?
March going into April saw extremely bad weather and only 17 flights were able to take place and the Lysander and Defiant flying program was cancelled (due to the slippery grass). Despite this the Polish pilot, Pilot Officer Habela, along with Sgt T A Menzies took off and carried out the allocated training.
On approach from the East, the engine failed causing them to crash a mile away near Llangewydd. The official report states that they crashed a mile and a half due Southeast at Llangewydd? A mile and a half SE will put you in the middle of Merthyr Mawr Warren?
Crew of Defiant AA293:
Pilot Officer H.G. Habela (Polish) RAF. Pilot. Safe.
Sgt T.A. Menzies RAFVR. Air Gunner Under Training. Injured.
Wreckage:
At the location, there has been wreckage found on the north side of the railway embankment which confirms an aircraft crashed here, (unconfirmed). With the knowledge that no other incident occurred here, the argument for the Defiant is strong.
Additional Information:
Defiants were also used for "special" work. Two Defiants were issued for ejection seat development work: one to R Malcolm Ltd (later ML Aviation) and the other to Martin-Baker. On the 11th of December 1944, Defiant DR944 was delivered to Martin-Baker's facility at Denham; sometime thereafter, a primitive ejector seat was fitted into the observers position for trial purposes. On the 11th of May 1945, Martin-Baker used DR944 to test their first ejection seat with dummy launches. Various trials using DR944 took place until May 1948.
The other Defiant, AA292, was delivered to R Malcolm Ltd at White Waltham Airfield on 15 April 1945 and the first airborne trial with dummies was held in the following October.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft AA100-AZ999 (James J Halley Air Britain (Second Edition) 2000 p.5)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/13090: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17083840
3. https://ciapoldiescorner.blogspot.com/2009/04/events-for-1st-april.html
4. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/military/Crashes_Wales_and_West_Midlands.pdf
5. https://www.ukcitymap.com/llangewydd-court-mid-glamorgan-wales-satellite-view.html
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Stormy_Down
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 07-Feb-2008 03:58 | JINX | Added |
| 20-Apr-2015 05:13 | Angel dot comma | Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 02-Mar-2022 20:15 | Davies 62 | Updated [Aircraft type, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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