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| Date: | Saturday 15 February 1941 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.89A Dragon-Rapide. |
| Owner/operator: | 8 AACU RAF |
| Registration: | AW115 |
| MSN: | 6258 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Craigmuir Road, Tremorfa, Cardiff, South Glamorgan -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF St. Athan, South Glamorgan |
| RAF Pengam Moors, Cardiff, South Glamorgan |
c/no. 6258: Registered as G-ACTU [C of R 5121] 3.9.34 to Claude R. Anson, Itchel Manor, Crondall, Hampshire (but actually based at Hanworth Aerodrome, Hanworth, Middlesex). C of A 4477 issued 24.9.34; delivered 6.11.34. Re-registered [C of R 7193] 17.7.36 to Arthur P.H. Forbes, The Right Hon. Viscount Forbes, and operated by Personal Airways Ltd, Croydon Airport, Croydon, Surrey. Registration cancelled [probably as sold abroad] following attempted acquisition by a Frenchman acting for the Spanish Republicans in August/September 1936, which was thwarted.
Registration restored [C of R 7426] 1.11.36 to Right Hon. Viscount Forbes [again]. Re-registered [C of R 7994] 14.7.37 to The Channel Trust Ltd, operated by Norman Edgar (Western Airways) Ltd, Weston super-Mare. Re-registered [C of R 8445] 9.4.38 to Weston Airport Ltd; operated by Western Airways Ltd, Weston-super-Mare. Re-registered [C of R 8854] 1.11.38 to Western Airways Ltd, Weston-super Mare.
Operated by 24 Squadron, RAF Hendon from 30.9.39; detached to Le Bourget, France, 8.11.39. Returned (following the fall of France) in May 1940 to Western Airways Ltd. Registration cancelled 4.6.40 as "sold" and delivered to 8 AACU Filton, Bristol, Gloucestershire 10.6.40 (later Weston at Zoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset, and Cardiff, South Glamorgan).
Impressed into RAF Service as AW115 25.7.40. (One source states that, as AW115, crashed at St.Eval, Cornwall in August 1940)
Stalled on take-off from RAF St. Athan; crashed into a garden at Craigmuir Road, Tremorfa, Cardiff, South Glamorgan 15.2.41 and destroyed by fire; all 3 on board injured. Officially there were four personnel on board – Sgt J. Kumela (Pilot), LAC Thomas Yardley, AC.1 Douglas Cross & Assistant Section Officer Joy Winifred Ord, WAAF – who all survived the crash. It is not clear who was the one person on board that was not injured. Struck Off Charge 28.2.41 as Cat.E(FA).
Tremorfa (Welsh for 'Tre town + morfa coastal marsh') is a district and community of the city of Cardiff, Wales. It falls into the Splott ward of Cardiff.
NOTE: Although most published sources state that AW115 crashed on take-off from RAF St. Athan, that location is some 15 miles from the crash site. It is more likely that the aircraft crashed either taking off or landing at Pengham Moors, Cardiff, the runway of which is directly in line with the crash location. 8 AACU were based at RAF Pengham Moors
Sources:
1. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh89.pdf
2. https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-ACTU.pdf
3. http://www.orpheusweb.co.uk/vicsmith/OldAccs/Aug40.html
4. http://www.airliners.net/photo/Western-Airways/De-Havilland-DH-89-Dragon-Rapide/1909225/L
5. http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/component/content/article?id=77
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A5.html
7. https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1287981
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p062.html
9. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?14414-Aircraft-crash-in-Cardiff-near-the-Cardiff-Docks-winter-1940-41&styleid=3
10. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh89a-dragon-rapide-raf-st-athan
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_anti-aircraft_cooperation_units_of_the_Royal_Air_Force
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Pengam_Moors#Wartime_RAF_use
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremorfa
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOD_St_Athan#Second_World_War
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 22-May-2009 12:58 | XLerate | Added |
| 21-Jun-2009 03:33 | angels one five | Updated |
| 12-Dec-2011 14:32 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 28-Dec-2017 01:01 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 18-Feb-2019 21:51 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Total occupants, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 18-Feb-2019 21:55 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, ] |
| 10-Mar-2019 18:37 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator, ] |
| 19-Mar-2025 17:32 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative, Category, ] |
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