Date:	Thursday 1 June 1939
Time:	day
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	22 E&RFTS RAF
Registration:	K7618
MSN:	F.2375
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Beach, near Barnard Avenue, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Teversham, Cambridge
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Fairey Battle Mk.1 K7618: Built by Fairey Aircraft Ltd., Heaton Chapel, Stockport, Cheshire, and delivered new to 52 Squadron, RAF Upwood on 3 December 1937. Transferred 20 December 1938 to 22 E&RFTS (Elementary & Reserve Flying Training School) RAF Teversham, Cambridge.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 1 June 1939 when engine failed (possibly due to overheating caused by a Glycol leak) and force landed on the North Beach, near Barnard Avenue, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. No reported casualties among the crew. According to a feature article in a local newspaper ("Great Yarmouth Mercury" 15 January 2015):

"From ex-Yarmouthian Danny Daniels, an octogenarian long resident in Canada, came an email saying: “As far as aeroplane crashes are concerned, the one I remember was that of the Fairey Battle fighter-bomber that came down intact on the North Beach at Yarmouth. It was quite a sight, sitting there in the sand with its propellers bent backwards as it had presumably come down with a dead engine.”

The Fairey Battle, a light bomber, landed on the water’s edge opposite Barnard Avenue in the summer of 1939. According to the Mercury: “Relieved crowds on beach and parade saw the pilot, Sergeant Cyril Henry Butcher, climb out unhurt.”

Eyewitness Mr E Grimmer said the pilot “made a fine landing. He came down very low and some people ducked. The machine bounced on the beach and then skidded to a standstill. The pilot was unhurt when he climbed out. He seemed to have engine trouble.”

Aircraft not repaired, Struck Off Charge as FACE (Flying Accident, Category E) on 13 December 1939. Total flying time on airframe 400.10 hours

1. The K File - The RAF of the 1930s (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1995 p.126)
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1976 page 62)
3. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997 p.31/p.126)
4. https://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/your-great-yarmouth/nostalgia/remembering-air-crashes-of-the-past-1-3919002 .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Nov-2020 02:44	Dr. John Smith	Added
02-Nov-2020 15:36	Oezil	Updated [Operator, Operator]
03-Nov-2020 22:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
23-May-2023 17:42	Nepa	Updated [[Location, Source, Narrative]]