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| Date: | Thursday 31 August 1944 |
| Time: | 15:00 |
| Type: | Miles Martinet TT.1 |
| Owner/operator: | 595 AAC RAF. |
| Registration: | MS529 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Flimston, Pembs, West Wales. -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Aberporth |
| Return. |
Details:
This aircraft was one of 355 delivered to the RAF, built by Philips & Powis, Reading between July and November 1943. It was assigned to 287 and 567 squadrons before coming to No.595. All of which were Anti-Aircraft Co-Operation squadrons. MS529 arrived at 287 squadron on the 9th of September 1943. On the 30th of November, pilots of 287 squadron took her to RAF Detling where she went to 567 squadron which was being formed.
On the 12th of April 1944, MS529 arrived at RAF Aberporth and N.595 squadron. The squadron had a number of different aircraft types for use with ‘Target Towing’, ‘Drogue Towing’ for live firing by the AA units. The squadron flew the aircraft on ‘Dry Targeting’ where the guns lock on and followed through the aircraft practising the same marksman principles as the Fighter pilots of the front-line fighter squadrons, who used Clay-Pigeon shooting to hone their skills.
MS529 took off on the Thursday the 31st of September, being flow by F/Sgt McMillan, a Kiwi, to conduct a dry targeting exercise with 61 AA Brgd’ at Milford Haven. There was patchy cloud and was a perfect summers day. After a couple of passes over the AAA position it appears that McMillan entered cloud on a South-westerly direction and out of sight to the gun crews.
The next time the aircraft was seen, it came out of the clouds with a dead engine and in a spin. At 15:00hrs the pilot attempted to bale out, but his parachute became entangled in the ‘windmilling’ propeller and tragically went in with the aircraft.
Extract from the squadron records.
“31st MS529 Martinet, crashed while on Co-Operation sortie for 61 AA Brgd’ at
Milford Haven, killing pilot, F/Sgt McMillan (New Zealand). Cause of accident awaiting investigation.
RAF Station 3rd Sept F/Lt Lincoln arrived to carry out investigation in the fatal accident of
Aberporth F/Sgt McMillan (NZ) in Martinet MS529.”
Crew:
F/Sgt Lyell Arvie McMillan 23yo NZ/427294 RNZAF. Pilot. Killed.
Son of Albert Arvie McMillan and Olive Maud McMillan, of Southbridge, Canterbury, New Zealand.
Buried:
Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery. Plot 51. Section H. Row T. Grave 238.
Wreckage:
Unknown. The location of the crash is within the ‘Prohibited DANGER TO LIFE area of the live ranges and no access is permitted at any time due to the HE tank rounds present and remains of the SABOT shells which have Uranium/Tungsten materials in their makeup.
FOR THIS REASON, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LOCATE THE CRASH SITE!
Memorials:
CWGC Headstone & Family stone in New Zealand. Online Web page for RAF Aberporth (www.rafaberporth.org.uk)
Additional Information:
Lyell McMillan was born on the 28th of July 1921 at Wellington. He worked as a farm hand for his mother’s farm at Leeston, South Island. He served in the Territorial Army for two months before enlisting at Gisborne on the 11th of July 1942 as an aircraft hand but remastered as a pilot under training on the 4th of February 1943. He went through training at No.3 EFTS (Elementary Flying Training School) on the 3rd of April 1943, on completing this stage he then went to No.2 SFTS (Service Flying Training School) on the 31st of May 1943.
He passed out of training and awarded his wings on the 2nd of August 1943 and promoted to Sergeant on the 25th of September 1943 and embarked for the UK on the 15th of October 1943. Here he joined No.5 PAFU (Pilots Advanced Flying Unit) on the 20th of June 1944. He joined No.595 squadron on the 15th of August 1944. When he was killed, he had logged 289 flying hours on type (Martinet).
The Castlemartin Training Area was established in 1938 from both deserted and inhabited farmland, and from parts of the defunct Cawdor Estate. The ranges were abandoned by the military soon after the Second World War but were re-instated in 1951 when the Korean War started.
In 1961 there was a shortage of suitable tank training areas in the northern part of Germany for the then recently reactivated German Tank Units. The BAOR (British Army of the Rhine) extensively used the ranges at the Bergen-Hohne Training Area which totalled 72,000 acres as their training demands could not be met by the limited acreage available in the United Kingdom.
Therefore, a NATO accordance was agreed in Paris whereby the fledgling German forces could use the 5,000-acre range at Castlemartin. This relationship between the German Armoured Units and Castlemartin lasted until October 1996, when after Germany reunification, additional ranges in eastern Germany became available.
Castlemartin is one of two armoured fighting vehicle ranges in the UK with direct live firing gunnery exercises and armoured vehicle manoeuvres. The other is Lulworth Cove. Castlemartin is the only Defence Training Area normally available for armoured units to fire live rounds on land and littoral environments including live firing into the sea.
Due to the nature of the area accidents do occur.
In May 2012, Ranger Michael Maguire from the 1st Battalion, RIR (Royal Irish Regiment) died in a live fire incident on the range. Ranger Maguire was resting in a safe area where he had removed his body armour and helmet when a stray round entered his temple. The machine gun fire that was responsible for his death also put civilians at risk on neighbouring beaches although there was no report of injuries. Ranger Maguire and his unit were training for deployment to Afghanistan.
On the 14th of June 2017 two RTR (Royal Tank Regiment) soldiers were killed in an incident that involved the failure of a tank's main armament, due to the incomplete fitting of all parts that were required. This led to hot gases being discharged that then ignited weapon charges that had been removed from their storage. The explosion and fire that occurred caused the injuries to all four of the crew, with two crew being fatally injured.
On the 4th of March 2021, Sergeant Gavin Hillier of 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards died during a live firing exercise.
Sources:
www.aircrewremembered.com
www.rafcommands.com
www.dyfedarchaeology.org.uk
www.cwgc.org
www.findagrave.com
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 02-Aug-2024 07:34 | Davies 62 | Added |
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