ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 204415
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| Date: | Saturday 21 December 1940 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth |
| Owner/operator: | 13 EFTS RAF |
| Registration: | BB754 |
| MSN: | 3424 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | RAF Crazies Hill, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Crazies Hill, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire |
| RAF White Waltham, Maidenhead, Berkshire |
First registered (C of R 6273) on 11.9.35 as G-ASDH to the De Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd., Hatfield, Hertfordshire (aircraft based at White Waltham, Maidenhead, Berkshire). C of A 5069 issued 25.11.35, and operated by 1 E&RFTS/DH Reserve School, Hatfield. Engine failed and damaged when overshot field on forced landing 29.11.35; repaired and to 13 E&RFTS White Waltham, Maidenhead, Berkshire. Damaged when overshot on landing at White Waltham 29.7.37 and hit hedge; repaired. Unit renamed 13 EFTS after outbreak of war 4.9.39.
Civil registration G-ADSH cancelled 30.10.40 when impressed into military service as BB754. Written off (damaged beyond repair) 21.12.40 when stalled on takeoff and crashed at RAF Henley, Oxfordshire.
Pilot of BB754:
Leading Aircraftman Edmund John McGrath ((Pilot under training, Service Number 1256401) - killed in service 29.12.40. Buried at Maidenhead Cemetery, Maidenhead, Berkshire
The Graves Registration Report records him as being with 13 E.F.T.S., and the Andrews Newspaper Index records him as "killed in a flying accident" on this date.
Note that the Tiger Moth BB754 crashed near RAF Crazies Hill, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire on a sortie from RAF White Waltham, Maidenhead, Berkshire - and NOT, as per some published sources, RAF Kenley, Whyteleafe, Surrey. (Some have confused "Henley" with "Kenley"!).
The evidence backing up the assertion that the crash was near Henley on Thames is that fact that the pilots death was recorded by the Coroner for Wokingham, Berkshire in the 4th quarter of 1940 (1.9.40 to 31.12.40). A fatal flying accidnet in Kenley, Surrey, would normally be recorded in the appropriate district of Surrey.
RAF Henley-on-Thames is a former Royal Air Force grass-strip airfield in Berkshire, England, located near Henley-on-Thames. It was also known by a variety of other names: Cockpole Green, Upper Culham Farm, Crazies Hill, or Crazies Hill Farm. The site was used to assemble and test Supermarine Spitfires (produced locally by dispersed manufacturers in the Reading area), and as a Relief Landing Ground for RAF White Waltham and RAF Woodley. It was built in late 1939 and closed in October 1945.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft BA100-BZ999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain 1986 p 18)
2. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2436478/mcgrath,-edmund-john/
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/4636: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16688734
4. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/15-aeroplanes/78-register-gb-g-ad
5. https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-ADSH.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A7.html
7. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p034.html
8. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?2176-401221-Unaccounted-airmen-21-12-1940
9. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
10. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56138441/edmund-john-mcgrath
11. https://www.kenleyrevival.org/content/service-people/leading-aircraftman-pilot-under-training-edmund-john-mcgrath
12. https://www.ukairfieldguide.net/airfields/White-Waltham
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Henley-on-Thames
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazies_Hill
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 14-Jan-2018 18:57 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 16-Oct-2018 20:49 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 30-May-2019 00:08 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source] |
| 30-May-2019 16:20 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
| 05-Aug-2021 15:19 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category] |
| 05-Aug-2021 15:21 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 05-Aug-2021 17:37 | Coumes | Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator] |
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