Date:	Tuesday 8 May 1951
Time:	day
Type:	Bristol Beaufighter TT Mk X
Owner/operator:	5 Sqn RAF
Registration:	RD812
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Williton, 2 miles south of Watchet, Somerset, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Banner and glider towing
Departure airport:	RAF Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Beaufighter RD812: Written off (destroyed) 08/05/1951. During a banner target towing sortie from RAF Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, Wales, the pilot descended below the minimum safety altitude of 250 feet, and struck a tree while attempting to avoid overhead HT Power cables, and crashed at Williton, near Watchet, Somerset.
The reason for the low flying was to enable the Beaufighter to drop the towed banner target on the Watchet Gunnery Ranges for examination. The aircraft broke up on impact with the ground, and caught fire. This set alight to the gorse and heathland around the crash impact site. Both crew on board were killed:
Crew of Beaufighter RD812:
F/O (1892398) Alexander Duncan CORDINER DFM (pilot) RAF - killed on active service 8/5/1951,
LAC (4006962) James LAWTON (TTOp) RAF - killed on active service 8/5/1951

The reported crash location of Williton is a large village and civil parish in Somerset, England, at the junction of the A39, A358 and B3191 roads, on the coast 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Watchet

1. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
2. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.113 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.136
5. 5 Squadron RAF ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/1/1951 to 31/12/1956: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2591 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505229
6. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38858/supplement/1213/data.pdf
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._5_Squadron_RAF#Cold_War
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williton

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
21-Jan-2021 23:06	Dr. John Smith	Added
21-Jan-2021 23:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
22-Jan-2021 11:09	MiG15	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative, Operator]
23-Jan-2021 22:06	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
23-Jan-2021 22:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
20-May-2021 08:45	Anon.	Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator]