ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 224961
This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.
| Date: | Friday 14 May 1943 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Airspeed Oxford Mk II |
| Owner/operator: | 116 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | W6590 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Morris Farm, Sketty, Swansea, West Glamorgan -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Weston-Super-Mare. |
| Return. |
Site location not confirmed. RAF accident record card (Form AM1180) states the aircraft dived vertically into Turner's Farm, known at the time as Morris Farm, Sketty, Swansea, West Glamorgan on 14th May 1943.
At least one person killed: Flight Sergeant DONALD DOUGLAS Maclean RCAF (Service Number R/88440): Killed Buried Killay (St. Hilary of Poictiers) Churchyard
Details:
116 Sqn’.
The unit formed at RAF Hatfield on 17 February 1941 from No 1 Anti-Aircraft Calibration Unit. The squadron’s main task was the calibration of predictors and anti-aircraft radar used by Army batteries in the UK. In November 1941 it began to receive Hurricanes for dive-bomber and low-level attack training for the British gunners. The unit, which spent much of its life fragmented, but with large numbers of aircraft on strength, disbanded on 26 May 1945.
Squadron records.
14 May 1943.
‘Weather 08:00hrs cloud 4/10 at 4,000ft visibility 6 miles conditions good all day.’
(The beginning covers the whole area of operation for the squadron all over the country.)
‘No.4 group Birmingham ended in 7hrs.05min ZH.1 began. No.6 group Dundee D.1 began. Glasgow S.3 ended in 7hrs.10mins. Canadian pilot F/Sgt D.D. MacLean No. R/88440 whilst flying Oxford II W.6590 crashed at Turners farm nr Swansea and was killed. Form 765 © action being taken by RAF Fairwood Common (Appendix “A”).’
15 May 1943.
‘W/Cdr G. D. Crudall & P/O R.H. Poyton (Squadron Assistant Engineering Officer) flew from Croydon to Weston-Super-Mare. Picked up F/Lt S.J. Thackery and continued to Fairwood Common. Station Engineering Officer joined them, and all proceeded to the scene of F/Sgt D.D. MacLeans crash. All the officers flew back to Weston-Super-Mare.’
17 May 1943.
‘Authority received from A.O.C No. 11 group for commencing a court of enquiry at Fairwood Common. Concerning the crash of Oxford W.6590 on 14 May 1943 in which F/Sgt MacLean was killed.’
Form 765 (c).
Crash Report.
‘Aircraft was seen by several witnesses to dive vertically out of cloud and hit the ground at right angles. Both engines were running up at moment of impact and at high RPM during the dive. No information is available regarding events proceeding the dive because of obstructive cloud.
Cause of crash not yet established. Court of enquiry is being held by HQ No11 Group at Fairwood Common.’
Signed R. H. Poynton P/O.’
Crew:
F/Sgt Donald Douglas MacLean 21yo R/88440 RCAF. Pilot. Killed.
Son of John Neil MacLean and Margret Agnes MacLean of Orangedale, Nova Scotia, Canada,
Buried:
Killay (St Hilary) Churchyard. Grave 222.
Wreckage:
Nothing remains.
Memorials:
CWGC Headstone.
Canadian Virtual Memorial.
Additional Information:
Morris Farm.
The Morris family founded Morriston as an industrial township to house their workers in the late eighteenth century. Sketty Park was built about 1820. They owned three of the farms within the area. The only sign of where the once grand house stood is the nearby folly on Saunders Way. The site of the estate is now occupied by Millfield Close. The farm officially known as ‘Caedala Farm’ was known locally as ‘Morris Farm’. Warwick Road now stands over this site.
Cedric Morris (1889–1982) was a painter of the natural world and one of the most original British artists of the twentieth century.
Cedric Lockwood Morris was born on 11th December 1889 at Machen Lodge in Sketty, to parents George Lockwood Morris (later Sir George Lockwood Morris, 8th Baronet) and Wilhelmina (née Cory). The Morris family rose to prominence in Swansea in the mid-eighteenth century through their success in the copper smelting business.
Following his schooling, Morris went to join the army but failed the examinations, and in 1909, aged 19, he travelled to Port Nelson in Canada where he worked on a farm. By mid-1910, Morris was back in Wales, and after a brief period studying singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London, he decided to pursue his passion for art and enrolled at the Académie Delécluse in Montparnasse, Paris, in January 1914.
For a young artist like Morris, Montparnasse was an eye-opener. It was an area favoured by young, like-minded creatives and notable past residents included Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) and Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). The outbreak of the First World War, however, cut this experience short, and in August Morris returned to London. Morris first joined the Artists Rifles and then worked in the Remount Service training horses for the front line. When the Remounts were taken over by the army in 1917, he was discharged.
At an Armistice Day party in 1918 Morris met Arthur Lett-Haines (1894–1978), known as 'Lett', and they immediately fell in love. Lett also had ambitions to be a painter and in 1919 they moved to Newlyn in Cornwall where Morris first experimented with oil paint – a medium in which he would work almost exclusively throughout his life.
Sources:
1. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2717292/maclean,-donald-douglas/
2. http://www.ggat.org.uk/timeline/pdf/Military%20Aircraft%20Crash%20Sites%20in%20Southeast%20Wales.pdf
https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk
https://gainsborough.org
www.rafcommands.com
https://maps.nls.uk
www.discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
www.veterans.gc.ca
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 10-May-2019 23:30 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 12-May-2019 12:17 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
| 30-Apr-2023 06:08 | Davies 62 | Updated [[Operator]] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
The Aviation Safety Network is an exclusive service provided by:
Quick Links:
| ASN Home | Send Correction / Feedback |
| FSF Home | Disclaimer | Copyright |
| Contact Us | Privacy Policy |
| Press / Media |
CONNECT WITH US:
©2024 Flight Safety Foundation