ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 2222
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| Date: | Wednesday 5 January 1938 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Hawker Audax Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 10 FTS RAF |
| Registration: | K5126 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | Maer Hall, Whitmore, Shropshire, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Ternhill. Shropshire |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Hawker Audax Mk.I K5126, 10 FTS, RAF Ternhill, Shropshire: Destroyed 5/1/38 when crashed into a tree at Maer Hall estate, near Whitmore, Staffordshire, and destroyed by fire. Pilot, Acting Pilot Officer Howard Graham Clitheroe (aged 24, and a Canadian national, from Toronto, Quebec) was killed. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("The Winnipeg Tribune" Winnipeg, Canada Issue Dated Thursday, January 6, 1938, page 1 - see link #6):
"Crashes In Air Force Will Bring Protests
By A. C. CUMMING
From The Trlbune's London Bureau
Copyright by the Southam Publishing Co Ltd
LONDON, Jan. 6. Protests against "the abnormal number of deaths" among young pilots of the Royal Air Force undergoing training will be made by members of parliament when the House of Commons resumes sittings. Last year 153 airmen were killed In 93 accidents, and this year already a young Canadian, Acting Pilot Officer Howard Graham Clitheroe, of Toronto, heads what Is feared to be another death roll of training casualties. Deaths in 1936 numbered only 96. Heads of the air force itself are protesting against the rush tactics In training that cause disasters.
Inexperienced Pilots
Air Marshal Sir W. G. Mitchell says "inexperienced pilots are turned out In 10 months and put Into squadrons where they fly high-speed machines. There is a shortage of technical Instruments for bad weather flying and that Is due to the difficulty of getting production to keep pace with the demand." However, he declared the incidence of accidents was not alarming when it was considered that the R.A.F. more than doubled its flying mileage in 1937 as compared to 1935, and that hundreds of the newest machines continually were entering service."
Sources:
1. Air-Britain The K File The RAF of the 1930s
2. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939.htm
3. https://www.cranston-military-prints.com/airframe-history.php?FrameID=25520
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?314-RAF-officer-deaths-1-1-29-3-9-39
5. https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Maer%20Hall
6. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/37333589/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Feb-2008 22:50 | JINX | Added |
| 14-Aug-2013 20:16 | JINX | Updated [Aircraft type, Source] |
| 13-Nov-2016 16:58 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Mar-2018 13:35 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Source, Narrative] |
| 25-Nov-2018 14:28 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Location, Nature, Operator] |
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