ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 69110
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| Date: | Monday 15 April 1940 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Gloster Gladiator Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 112 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | K8024 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 2 miles south of Helwan -
 Egypt
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
Caught fire in the air & abandoned.
Pilot:Sqn/Ldr 32113 Duncan MacDonald "Slim" Somerville RAF injured.
"Forced to bale out when his plane mysteriously caught fire, pilot hospitalized with burns, Some months before Italy declared war, S/L u2018Slim' Somerville was up in his Gladiator (K8024) carrying out an aerobatic display, when suddenly in the middle of a slow roll, dead over the aerodrome, a spurt of flame and smoke burst from the cockpit. The roll was completed and the C.O. took to his parachute, making a successful landing a few miles from the aerodrome but unfortunately his face and hands were badly burnt before he could get out of his aircraft. However, the ambulance and u2018pick-up' were racing across what appeared to be a mile of flat sand waste to where the C.O. was about to land. The Ford u2018pick-up' had outstripped the slower ambulance, when they shot straight into a wadi with a sheer bank of sand 15 feet below, but apart from scratches and bruises and a dent in the roof and bonnet of the car, no damage was done and the car was pushed onto its wheels, started up and even so arrived first on the scene to help the C.O."
From 'March of the Gladiators' by J.F. Fraser.
Sources:
Air Britain The K File The RAF of the 1930s
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 16-Oct-2009 14:24 | JINX | Added |
| 16-Oct-2009 14:25 | JINX | Updated |
| 15-Dec-2014 09:51 | Paix | Updated [Operator, Narrative] |
| 07-Jan-2021 20:46 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Location, Operator] |
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