ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 224460
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| Date: | Tuesday 25 November 1941 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Supermarine Spitfire Mk Ia |
| Owner/operator: | 52 OTU RAF |
| Registration: | AR226 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Lletty Farm, Felindre, Swansea, Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Aston Down, Gloucestershire |
| RAF Fairwood Common, Swansea, West Glamorgan, South Wales |
Built by Westland Aircraft: Delivered to the RAF at 38 MU Llandow 26-9-41. Issued to 52 OTU 8-11-41 (as GK-E). Written off (damaged beyond repair) when ran out of fuel while lost, hit a hedge and overturned in a forced landing at Lletty Farm, Felindre, Swansea, near RAF Fairwood Common (at approximate co ordinates 51.71,02985 N, 3.96.64395 W)
SOC 25-11-41: the bulk of the aircraft was recovered as scrap to 78 MU at Brynea, near Llanelli. Pilot survived the heavy landing.
Details:
This aircraft was one of the last mark one’s before the mark two began on the production line (the main difference was the more powerful Merlin engine), it was built at the Westland works near Weston Super-mare. It’s first flight was not recorded, or simply lost over time! However, it went to 38MU at RAF Llandow on the 26th of September 1941. On the 8th of November it went to 52OTU at Ashton Down.
Three weeks later, on the 25th AR226 was in the hands of a Czech flyer with less than two hours on type. The task was a cross country navigation flight, but he got totally lost and flying in the opposite direction until the fuel got dangerously low. It seems he may have seen Fairwood airfield in the distance and tried to make it, but the fuel ran out. He saw a suitable field belonging to Lletty Farm, he lowered his undercarriage. The guide lines for making a forced landing it advises NOT to come down on unfamiliar ground with the wheels lowered.
The aircraft touched the ground, and everything seemed to be going well, when the ground started to turn into a downward slope, with no means of stopping on the greasy field, the Spitfire hit the small hedge at the end of the field and flipped over!
Crew:
Sgt Stanislaw Tocauer (Czech) RAF. Pilot. Uninjured.
Wreckage:
The aircraft was badly dented with a broken airscrew and cockpit hood and removed. But it was not worth repairing and SOC on the 25th of November 1941.
The farmer, some years afterwards, found the tail wheel! Which he pressed into service as a wheel for his wheelbarrow! His son while ploughing the field during the 80’s, dug up the rear-view mirror!
Additional information:
Sgt Tocauer went to serve with distinction flying with 312 Czech squadron RAF where he claimed at least two Focke Wulf 190’s and was involved with the contact with Fw190’s over Devon and Dorset which resulted in a Fw190 landing at RAF Pembrey.
He was promoted to Flight Sergeant and his last flight with 312 squadron was on the 3rd of May 1943. He volunteered to fly with the Soviets on the Eastern front. It is not known when he was shot down. But he was taken prisoner and saw out the war. Stanislaw continued to fly with the 1st Czech Air Force, post war (Part of the Warsaw Pact). He passed away on the 30th of January 1969.
Sources:
1. Fallen Flyers: Tragedy in the Skies Over Wartime Gower (Wartime Record) Bryngold Books Ltd; First edition (1 May 2005) by Steven H. Jones
2. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p021.html
3. http://www.ggat.org.uk/timeline/pdf/Military%20Aircraft%20Crash%20Sites%20in%20Southeast%20Wales.pdf
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=AR226
5. http://ciapoldiescorner.blogspot.com/2009/11/
https://fcafa,com
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 29-Apr-2019 00:23 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 29-Apr-2019 00:25 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 29-Apr-2019 00:28 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 25-May-2019 11:07 | stehlik49 | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location] |
| 10-Nov-2021 19:49 | Davies 62 | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 11-Nov-2021 19:46 | Davies 62 | Updated [Narrative] |
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