Date:	Thursday 6 December 1951
Time:	23:40 LT
Type:	Airspeed Oxford Mk I
Owner/operator:	8 AFTS RAF
Registration:	V3910
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Maol an Taillier, 11 miles east of RAF Dalcross, Inverness, Scotland -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Dalcross, Inverness (EGPE)
Destination airport:	RAF Dalcross, Inverness (EGPE)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Airspeed Oxford Mk.I V3910/"76" 8 AFTS, RAF: Delivered to 8 AFTS in September 1951. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 6 December 1951: Nineteen year old Acting Pilot Officer Peter Drury from Rotherham in South Yorkshire was a pupil on No.4 Course at 8 AFTS (Advanced Flying Training School) which was stationed at Dalcross near Inverness. On the 6th December 1951 he was to carry out a solo night cross country exercise and took off at 21:45 for the exercise. On returning towards Dalcross at around 23:40 he was instructed from the ground to turn on his Beam Approach radio and descend along the beam back towards the airfield.

The ground controller expected him to call passing the Inner Master Beacon and when no call was made the controller called Acting P/O Drury and asked for his position. P/O Drury began replying to his before the transmission faded and no further contact was made with him.

It would not be until the 19th December that the wreckage of V3910 and the body of Peter Drury were located by a shepherd working on the Earl of Cawdor’s estate near Househill, south of Nairn, and some eleven miles east of Dalcross. Once located a party was sent from Dalcross, and using sixteen men, Drury’s body was carried off the moorland by stretcher. He was then later buried in his home town of Rotherham.

Crew of Oxford V3910
Acting Pilot Officer Peter Drury (pilot) RAF - killed

A Court of Inquiry which had been opened when the aircraft disappeared was reopened and the Court concluded that the aircraft had dived into the ground after the pilot had apparently lost control of the aircraft. At the time of his death Acting P/O Drury did not hold an instrument rating and had only eighty hours of total flying experience, most of which was on Airspeed Oxfords, six hours of which was solo night flying.

Acording to some fell walking forums (see link #6) a considerable amount of wreckage is still present at the crash site, although scattered over a wide area.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.122 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. The Oxford, Consul & Envoy File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 2001 p103)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.204
4. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-airspeed-as10-oxford-t2-inverness-1-killed
5. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/scotland/airspeed-oxford-v3910-maol-an-taillier/
6. http://www.wtdwhd.co.uk/crash%20details/CC19b/Maol%20an%20Tailliar2.html
7. https://www.facebook.com/PeakDistrictAirAccidentResearch/posts/2639823199575299?__tn__=-R

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2008 01:00	ASN archive	Added
25-Nov-2015 14:23	TB	Updated [Operator, Nature, Source, Damage]
26-Jul-2017 22:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
23-Nov-2018 16:43	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
17-Feb-2021 00:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
17-Feb-2021 09:13	Lelek	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Narrative, Operator]
17-Feb-2021 18:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Narrative]
17-Feb-2021 20:40	Lelek	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
01-Mar-2021 01:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
01-Mar-2021 01:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]