ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 208251
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 April 1939 |
| Time: | night |
| Type: | Gloster Gladiator II |
| Owner/operator: | 3 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | K8023 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Livingstone Road, Caterham-on-the-Hill, Surrey -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Kenley, Surrey |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
04/07/38: Transferred From 73 Squadron, RAF
18/04/39: Collided with K8023 in formation at night and crashed near Caterham-on-the-Hill, Surrey; Acting Pilot Officer Frank Brian Stiven and Flying Officer Dennis Thomas Collins Killed. (Total time on airframe 266.50 hrs). K7962 collided with K8023 (leader) while endeavouring to take station on him. This doesn't actually help identify who was in which aircraft, but I'd be tempted to assume from the context that Collins, as B Flt Commander, would be "leader" (i.e in K8023). According to a contemporary local newspaper report ("Croydon Advertiser" Friday 21 April 1939):
PLANES COLLIDE IN MID-AIR.
R.A.F. PILOTS KILLED IN CATERHAM CRASHES.
BLAZING WRECKAGE IN HOSPITAL GROUNDS.
Two R.A.F. pilots, one of them a young Beckenham man, were killed on Tuesday night when their machines collided in mid-air above Kenley Aerodrome and fell to the ground at Caterham some miles away. One of the airplanes burst into flames on striking the ground and the other buried itself in the garden of a house several hundred yards away. Both planes narrowly missed striking houses.
The dead men are Acting Pilot Officer Frank Bryan Stiven, whose home is at 11, Beckenham-road, Beckenham, and Acting Flight-Lieutenant Dennis Thomas Collins, whose home is in Essex. Stiven was the son of a well-known Beckenham dentist. He gained distinction as an expert swimmer and diver, and was a prominent athlete. Since joining the R.A.F. he had become known as a boxer.
The crash occurred shortly after 9.30 at night, when the two men, flying Gladiator machines attached to No. 3 (Fighter) Squadron, Kenley, were engaged in night flying exercises. The planes collided at an altitude of about 3,000 feet and dived to earth. One plane came down in a spiral dive, hitting a tree in the grounds of Caterham Mental Hospital near the house of Dr. T. B. Jones the medical officer. It immediately burst into flames, the light of which quickly attracted a crowd. So fierce was the blaze, however, that it was impossible for anyone to go near the wreckage for some time. Men from neighbouring houses endeavoured to reach the pilot, who was seen lying by the side of the plane, but heat forced them back, and it was some time before he could be extricated.
In the meantime Caterham Fire Brigade arrived on the scene and extinguished the blaze.
An eye witness told an "Advertiser" reporter, who arrived while the wreckage was still burning, "I saw the plane spiral down; then there was a blinding flash and I rushed to the hospital grounds. Two or three others arrived at the same time, but we could not get near the pilot. In the end we were able to drag his body away."
NOT ALARMED
The plane crashed about three hundred yards from the main hospital building, but an official stated that the patients were not alarmed.
One of the first to arrive on the scene was Mr. M. J, Kemp, a schoolmaster, who lives in Francis-road. When he returned to the house he found that the other machine involved had crashed in his back garden. Until then he was unaware that a plane had crashed fifteen feet from his own back door. Hundreds of other people who congregated in Coulsdon-road were also unaware of the whereabouts of the second plane.
After the blaze had been extinguished only the frame of the plane remained, though the tail could be seen lying against the fence of Dr. Jones's house. Windows in that house were broken by the concussion of the machine's fall. The pilot’s parachute could be distinguished by the side of the wreckage and it is thought that he must have endeavoured to jump, but could not do so before the plane struck the ground.
MYSTERY OF SECOND AIRPLANE
Some astonishing facts about the discovery of the second plane were revealed by residents in Livingstone-road. This plane crashed in the gardens of houses in Livingstone and Francis roads, but though it came down only a few feet from the houses themselves it was some time before it was discovered.
Mr. Charles Davies, of Livingstone-road, said that he was about to go to bed when he was startled by the sound of an impact and a quantity of earth was thrown over the house. So great was this that the force of it turned on an electric light switch, this serving as a clue to the whereabouts of the plane.
Other residents dashed out of their homes to find out what had happened, but it was some time before they were able to locate the wreckage, as the plane had buried itself several feet deep in the ground and it was difficult to distinguish any part of it in the darkness. Mr Charles Davies added that he walked up his garden path and passed within a few feet of the plane without noticing it. Mr. C. R. Davies was among those who dragged the pilot's body from the tangled mass of wreckage.
THOUGHT OF BOMBS
Another resident in Livingstone-road, Mr. Davies's daughter, said: "I heard the crash and immediately thought of bombs. Windows were broken, and though we knew the plane was somewhere near we could not find it."
Other opinions expressed by people in the crowd which watched R.A.F. clearing the debris on Wednesday morning were "We are profoundly grateful to the pilot, whose presence of mind in switching off the engine may have saved our homes from being burned"; "If the plane had fallen a few yards on either side it would have gone through the roof of a house. We have had a miraculous escape."
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1976 page 66)
2. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939.htm
3. http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/gladiator_raf_3.htm
4. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=12617.0
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?4657-Pre-war-Gladiator-losses-in-3-Squadron
6. Flight magazine April 27, 1939 page 423 at https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1939/1939%20-%201232.PDF
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 26-Mar-2018 20:30 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 26-Mar-2018 22:06 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Departure airport, Source] |
| 10-Nov-2018 22:06 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator] |
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