ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 225092
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| Date: | Sunday 18 January 1942 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Miles M27 Master III |
| Owner/operator: | 53 OTU RAF |
| Registration: | W8698 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | The Droves, off Sloper Road, Grangetown, Cardiff, South Glamorgan -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Llandow, Glamorgan |
Miles Master W8698 was assigned to 53 OTU, RAF Llandow, Glamorgan. It crashed during a forced landing at The Droves,
Grangetown, Cardiff, on 18th January 1942 (the Droves is the area of Cardiff between Sloper Road and the Ely River).
Details:
All squadrons and Royal Air Force Airfields used a wide range of aircraft as ‘Hacks’. These were old or non-frontline aircraft, i.e., training aircraft flown by who ever was the duty pilot or tasked to fly on short notice whether it was admin or picking up equipment or even staff.
The Master was a relatively fast and manoeuvrable trainer. Miles had designed the Master to fulfil the need of an effective trainer aircraft being one that could match the performance and possess similar characteristics to the frontline RAF monoplane fighters.
On 31 March 1939, the first true production Master I conducted its maiden flight with the first production examples were being delivered during late July of that year. The Master had entered RAF service just prior to the start of the Second World War.
The first masters were powered by the Rolls Royce Kestrel inline water-cooled engine. When production of the Kestrel engine ceased, a new variant of the Master was designed that used an air-cooled Bristol Mercury XX radial engine. A total of 602 Master IIIs were constructed.
In a typical trainer configuration, the Master was equipped to carry eight practice bombs, plus a single .303 in Vickers machine gun that was mounted in the front fuselage.
Because 53 Operational Training Unit was the final step in the conversion to the Supermarine Spitfire, the presence of a Miles trainer was as the station hack.
W8698 took off from Llandow on a what seams to have been a logistical flight and the destination may have been Pengam Moors, or the landing ground near Ely. but the pilot encountered thick cloud and instead of turning around he continued on, this makes the point that the pilot knew he was very close to Cardiff and his destination. However, due of possible icing, he experienced an emergency of some kind, had to put the aircraft down quickly. But couldn’t make either so, had to crash land at the eastern edge of the Droves. This was an area on the western fringes of Cardiff and was an ancient flood plain of the river Ely, criss-crossed by man-made irrigation ditches.
The pilot was an instructor with 53 OTU, received injuries that saw him hospitalized at the Air Force Hospital at RAF St Athan.
Wreckage:
All removed. The area known as the Droves has since the war been developed with industrial units and the home ground of Cardiff City FC, the area is collectively known as ‘Leckwith’.
Crew: Flying Officer L. A. Parr RAF (Pilot) survived Injured
Sources:
1. Source: Halley, J J, 1983, Royal Air Force Aircraft V1000-V9999, W1000-W9999, page 88
2. http://www.ggat.org.uk/timeline/pdf/Military%20Aircraft%20Crash%20Sites%20in%20Southeast%20Wales.pdf
3. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?14414-Aircraft-crash-in-Cardiff-near-the-Cardiff-Docks-winter-1940-41
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 14-May-2019 21:37 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 25-May-2019 11:30 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
| 07-Jan-2022 20:20 | Davies 62 | Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
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