Date:	Monday 16 August 1943
Time:	day
Type:	Boulton Paul Defiant TT Mk I
Owner/operator:	1622 (AAC) Flt RAF
Registration:	DR896
MSN:	954
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Eastney Ranges, Portsea Island, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Gosport, Hampshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Boulton Paul Defiant T.T Mk.I DR896, 1622 Flight RAF: Written off (destroyed) 16 August 1943 when Dived into the ground at Eastney Ranges, Portsea Island, Portsmouth, Hampshire. Both crew killed
Crew:
F/Sgt (R/137419) Wilber Joseph SHAVER (pilot) RCAF - killed on active service 16 August 1943
Sgt (1292325) Malcolm DOBBIE (WOp/AG) RAFVR - killed on active service 16 August 1943

Both crew were buried at St. Ann's Hill Cemetery, Gosport, Hampshire, next to each other, in the War Grave Section, Row 6 Grave 7, and Row 5 Grave 7 respectively. CWGC headstones commemorate them both.

Sergeant Wireless Operator/Air Gunner MALCOLM DOBBIE, R.A.F., was the son of John and Edith Dobbie, of Mile End, Essex. And Flight Sergeant Pilot, WILBUR JAMES SHAVER, R.C.A.F., the son of Joseph I and Nina M. Shaver, who came from Lancing, Michigan, in the United States of America. They took off in a Boulton Paul Defiant DR896. The aircraft was an old obsolete night fighter, which was used at 1622 Flight based at RAF Gosport for target towing; the date was 16th of August 1943.

The routine flight to the Anti Aircraft Range off Eastney, Portsmouth, was trouble free, however, during the exercise, the aircraft nose-dived into the sea from a height of about 200 feet, killing the pilot, Bill Shaver and Winchman, Malcolm Dobbie instantly. During operations to locate and recover the bodies and wreckage of the aircraft, the body of another airman was found

Flt. Sgt. 'Bill' Shaver was an American from Lansing, Michigan, crossed Lake Huron into Canada, where he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force at Windsor, Ontario, on 21st November 1941. After his training, he was posted to this Country on 30th November the following year, posted to 1601 Flight on the 13th April 1943. He was transferred to 1622 Flight a week later.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft DA100-DZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1987)
2. They Stand Beside Us: The lives of the Old Colcestrians who died in the Second World War By Neil Brinded, Michael Green, Colonel Richard Kemp CBE p.181
3. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2438217/wilber-joseph-shaver/
4. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2438138/malcolm-dobbie/
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=DR896
6. https://wight.hampshireairfields.co.uk/iowc.html
7. https://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/royal-air-force-war-grave-photos-for-reference.33488/page-62#post-451039
8. https://gosport.info/gosport-history/anns-hill-cemetery-war-graves/war-graves-page-5-d-e/
9. https://www.rcafassociation.ca/heritage/history/fallen-aviators/rcaf-casualties-second-world-war/sharman-to-smirl/
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastney

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Feb-2008 08:59	JINX	Added
28-Oct-2014 15:54	Paix	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Total occupants, Phase, Source, Narrative]
06-Jul-2023 17:13	Nepa	Updated [[Aircraft type, Operator, Total occupants, Phase, Source, Narrative]]