Date:	Friday 23 July 1937
Time:	17:40
Type:	Gloster Gladiator Mk I
Owner/operator:	72 Sqn RAF
Registration:	K6133
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hermit House Farm, Hermit Lane, Gawber, Barnsley, South Yorkshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:	RAF Sealand, Flintshire
Destination airport:	RAF Church Fenton, North Yorkshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Gladiator I K6133, 72 Squadron, RAF Church Fenton, North Yorkshire: Written off (destroyed) 23/7/37 when flew into the ground, at Hermit House Farm, Hermit Lane, Gawber, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. In poor visibility and low cloud, the pilot became lost; at 17.40hrs the pilot had lost control of the aircraft and it dived into a field and destroyed by fire on impact. The pilot - Pilot Officer Philip Hughes Crompton (aged 26, from Boughton, Cheshire, Cheshire) - was killed. The official Air Ministry announcement, published in "Flight" magazine 29/7/37 page 125 (see link #5):

"FLYING ACCIDENTS

P/O Philip Hughes Crompton lost his life in an accident which occurred near Barnsley, Yorks, on July 23, to an aircraft of No. 72 (Fighter) Squadron, Church Fenton, near Tadcaster, Yorks. P/O Crompton was the pilot and sole occupant of the aircraft."

A witness said 'the plane was going like lightning.' There was a screaming sound followed by a crash then a wall of flame shot 70 feet high. His plane had hit the ground at 200 mph. The cause of the crash was attributed to clouds obscuring the ground. He was 26 yrs old when he was killed. He was buried on the 28/7/37 at Overleigh Cemetery, Chester, Cheshire.

As reported in a contemporary local newspaper (Grimsby Evening Telegraph Grimsby, Humberside, Saturday, 24 July 1937 p.6):

"Pilot's Identity in Barnsley R.A.F. Crash:
Pilot Officer Philip Hughes Crompton, of No. 72 Fighter Squadron, Church Fenton, according to an Air Ministry announcement to-day was the pilot of the fighter plane that crashed at Gauber, near Barnsley, last night. Officer Crompton was the sole occupant of the machine. He was commissioned last September."

P/O Philip Hughes Crompton was born on 13th May 1911 at Warrington. As a young man he worked for the Hudson Bay Company in Canada but had returned to England by 1936. After learning to fly at the Liverpool and District Aero Club he was awarded a Royal Aero Club Aviators’ Certificate on the 25th May 1936 he was granted a commission in the RAF to the rank of Acting P/O on probation in the RAF on 7th September 1936 and was posted to 2 F.T.S. at Digby on 19th September 1936. He was later was posted to 72 Squadron on 22nd May 1937 who were based at Tangmere at that date. 72 Squadron then moved to Church Fenton on 1st June 1937.

Gawber is an area of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. The area falls within the Darton West ward of the Barnsley MBC.

1. Air-Britain: The K File - The RAF of the 1930s (James J Halley, Air Britain)
2. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1937.htm
3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/154359316
4. Grimsby Evening Telegraph (Grimsby, Humberside, Saturday, 24 July 1937 p.6): https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/919808525/?msockid=333603e15b416ba8092715d95a666a16
5. Swift to Battle: 1937-1942 By Tom Docherty
6. (paywall) https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1937/1937%20-%202129.PDF
7. http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/gladiator_raf_72.htm
8. https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/york37/k6133.html
9. Hermit House Farm: http://www.hermitsponiesandcobs.co.uk/ContactUs.html
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawber

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Oct-2009 16:01	JINX	Added
12-Oct-2009 23:19	JINX	Updated
15-Jan-2012 02:41	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, ]
14-Jul-2013 08:50	JINX	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, ]
02-Aug-2013 13:23	JINX	Updated [Operator, ]
02-Aug-2013 14:51	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, ]
03-Aug-2013 16:27	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, ]
04-Aug-2013 14:57	JINX	Updated [Operator, Location, ]
04-Jun-2015 21:21	Angel dick one	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, ]
28-Jan-2016 12:06	JINX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, ]
05-Mar-2018 14:52	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative, ]
09-Mar-2018 21:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
10-Nov-2018 18:26	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator, ]
19-May-2024 10:01	Nepa	Updated [Location, Operator, ]
02-Aug-2025 07:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Nature, Source, Narrative, Category, ]