ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 224430
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| Date: | Friday 26 February 1943 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Bristol Beaufighter Mk VIF |
| Owner/operator: | 125 (Newfoundland) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | X7890 |
| MSN: | VA-K |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Werganrows Farm, Blackhills Lane, Upper Killay, Glamorgan, Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Test |
| Departure airport: | RAF Fairwood Common, West Glamorgan |
| RAF Fairwood Common, South Wales |
Beaufighter X7890/K: Took off for solo flight test 26/02/1943
Crashed at Werganrows Farm, Blackhills Lane, Upper Killay, just outside the perimeter of RAF Fairwood Common. Pilot Sgt Taylor was killed in the ensuing fire. He originally worked at the Bristol Aircraft factory, Filton
Crew :
Sgt (1316758) Vivian Rex TAYLOR (Pilot) RAFVR - Killed
Details:
X7890 was one of 500 ordered from the Bristol Aeroplane Company MAP (Ministery of Aircraft Production) shadow factory at Western-Super-mare. To contract number 65570/40 and delivered to the RAF between February 1941 and July 1942. The break down of type produced was 240 MkIF, 206 MkVIF & 54 MkVIC.
Beaufighter Mark IF
Two-seat night fighter variant equipped with AI MkIV radar and Hercules XI engines.
Beaufighter Mark VIC
Coastal Command version, similar to the Mark IC
Beaufighter Mark VIF
Night fighter equipped with AI MkVII radar.
X7890 came on RAF strength with 19MU on storage at RAF Chepstow on the 8th of January 1942, her first active posting was with No.600 (City of London) squadron RAuxAF, She was picked up from RAF St Athan by F/O Arnsby on the 7th of February and flown to RAF Predannack in Cornwall. Her first active flight with the squadron was a ½ hour NFT (Night Flying Training) under the control of F/Lt Ellis and his W/Op-Navigator, P/O Craig. She or her crew were not called upon to engage any enemy, in fact the only engagement took place on the night of the 5/6th of July when a ‘Beau’ of ‘A’ Flight spotted and damaged a Heinkel He-111 off the Sully isles. She was soon posted off to 406 squadron of the RCAF on the 6th of September 1942. Formed at RAF Acklington in Northumberland on the 10th of May 1941 as the Royal Canadian Air Force’s fifth squadron and it’s first Night Fighter squadron formed overseas, the unit flew the Bristol Blenhiem NF, Beaufighter and the De-Havilland Mosquito NF in the defence of Britain at night. X7890 however, was only used as a squadron ‘Standby’ and not flown until, the 13th of November when she was ferried by a 406-squadron crew to RAF Fairwood Common and into the hands of 125 Newfoundland Squadron.
No. 125 squadron began to receive the Bristol Beaufighter MkVI’s during the month of September 1942, replacing the older, early MkIF’s. X7890 in the hands of Sgt Taylor, took off on a solo test flight, when on final approach, the Starboard engine failed. Taylor had no option but to open the Port engine to compensate and overshoot. The drag of the stalled Starboard propeller unit caused too much drag at low speed causing the aircraft to rise to Starboard and spun into the ground, leaving absolutely zero chance of the pilot escaping. The Beau’ crashed into boggy ground belonging to Werganrows farm of Upper Killay, just outside the perimeter of the aerodrome. A local farm worker, Mr Solomon was working nearby and saw the whole thing. He could see straight away that the pilot was beyond help in the ensuing fire, sadly the only thing he could do was to draw the cattle away from the fire and the exploding ammunition. Edward told me over a cup of tea one bleak autumn afternoon of how he had seen another Beaufighter crash not 100 yards away from X7890, with T3039 the contrast between the two couldn’t have been any different, he said when he made his way towards the crash, he was met with the pilot walking up the field. Mr Solomon showed me a photo album, within it contained an extremely rare wartime photograph of the crash along with another series of images of him and his father in a tractor towing a trailer with a huge Hermann bomb on board! He told me how they were asked by the bomb disposal team to take it down to the marshes for its destruction. Apparently on detonation, the blast took out a number of windows in Llanelli over the other side of the Loughor estuary. Imagine my amazement when from the bottom of a cupboard he showed me a large chunk of shrapnel from the Hermann. Sadly, Mr Solomon passed away over ten years ago, before I could talk to him again! As for the pilot of X7890, he originally worked at the Bristol Aircraft factory, Filton and was native to the city of Bristol. The squadron records held at the National Archives at Kew have only the one line of the crash.
“Fairwood
Common. 26th Weather operational- No enemy activity.
F/Sgt Gosse, Sgt Reid, S/Ldr Bailey & F/O White carried out practice combat zone interception.
F/Lt E. A. Snow ceased attachment to C.G.S. Sutton Bridge on termination of course.
R.108644 Sgt Fudge M.M. Ceased attachment to Bristol Aero Engine school on completion of course.
1316758 Sgt Taylor V. R. – Pilot- killed in flying accident.
1321711 Sgt Rose P.R. – Nav/Radio – Ceased attachment to RAF Station Coltishall on proceeding to RAF
Station Lynham, pending posting overseas.
Beaufighter VI – V8711 – Received from No. 19MU.
Such was the frequency of accidents, it appears the whole reason for the death of crew members was not worth the time to enter into the squadron records. A sad fact of the war!
Crew:
Sgt Vivian Rex Taylor 20yo 1316758 RAFVR. Pilot. Killed.
Buried:
Bristol (Canford) Cemetery. Section FF. Grave 462.
Wreckage:
Small fragments remain especially below the surface.
Sources:
1. Fallen Flyers: Tragedy in the Skies Over Wartime Gower (Wartime Record) : by Steven H. Jones
2. Gentlemen in Blue: 600 Squadron By Hans Onderwater (page 157)
3. http://www.ggat.org.uk/timeline/pdf/Military%20Aircraft%20Crash%20Sites%20in%20Southeast%20Wales
4. http://www.clynevalleycommunityproject.co.uk/world-war-ii/4559743795
www.rcafassociation.ca
www.discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
www.britishavation.ptp.com
www.rafcommands.com
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Apr-2019 23:13 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 28-Apr-2019 09:34 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
| 28-Jan-2020 15:57 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Destination airport, Source, Operator] |
| 21-Apr-2022 17:11 | Nepa | Updated [Time, Cn, Departure airport, Narrative, Operator] |
| 22-Apr-2022 16:59 | Nepa | Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator] |
| 27-Apr-2022 10:04 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Operator] |
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