ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 141513
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| Date: | Thursday 26 October 1939 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Airspeed Oxford Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 13 SFTS RAF |
| Registration: | N4592 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Lammerlaw Hills, East Lothian -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Standing |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Drem, East Lothian |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Oxford N4592 crashed on 26 October 1939 in the Lammerlaw Hills, in East Lothian, a couple of miles south and two days previous to the crash of Luftwaffe Heinkel He.111 1H+JA, the first enemy aircraft shot down on british soil during WWII. An article in 'After the Battle' Magazine issue 42 (dated 1983) describes an interview with a schoolboy, who after visiting the He.111 wreck went up to the crash site of N4692.
"The next day (Sunday, October 29) we went to the British aircraft crash, this was soon identified as an Airspeed Oxford despite the fact that the machine being of wood and fabric consrtuction had literally disintegrated on diving into the ground.
The large area strewn with wreckage was visible from miles away. This was to us better than the German aeroplane where people kept telling you not to touch anything. Here one could help oneself and out came the pliers and screwdrivers! It is true to say that in a few weeks most of the aeroplane disappeared, even the seven cylinder cheetah engines were taken apart and robbed of various components.
With our haul we passed the Heinkel site on the way home and there was a steady stream of people going up and coming down from it. It proved a real weekend sightseeing tour for hundreds if not thousands of people. At school on Monday the Heinkel was at first the main topic of conversation but instruments and other odds and ends from the Oxford slowly gained it number one place."
Those who died in this incident were:
Corporal Basil Francis Evans (Service Number 566005, aged 23)
Corporal Charles Maurice Thorpe (Service Number 566539, aged 22)
Even when visited in 1976 there was nothing remaining of N4592 at the crash site.
Sources:
1. Air Britain: RAF Aircraft L1000 - N9999, published 1996
2. http://www.aircrashsites-scotland.co.uk/oxford_lammer-law.htm
3. http://www.wtdwhd.co.uk/Lammerlaw.html
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/05112.php
5. https://aviationtrails.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/
6. http://www.theygavetheirtoday.com/oakham-school-wwii.html
7. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939a.htm
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2812497/evans,-basil-francis/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2812510/thorpe,-charles-maurice/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 03-Jan-2012 12:21 | Uli Elch | Added |
| 28-Jul-2017 20:07 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 23-Dec-2017 18:29 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
| 25-Apr-2018 00:08 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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