ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 279906
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| Date: | Tuesday 4 August 1942 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | De Havilland Queen Bee |
| Owner/operator: | 1 AACU |
| Registration: | L7751 |
| MSN: | 5247 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Airfield. -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Aberporth |
| Return. |
Details:
There were 400 built at the De Havilland works at Hatfield with 70 more by Scottish Aviation. By the start of the war there 300 in service with the RAF and the Royal Navy. Number 5247 off the line was L7751. She was delivered to the RAF at 26MU on the 12th of April 1938. Took on charge on the 2nd of May 1938, The sent No.24 Group at Henlow on the 1st of July for trials before coming to No. 1 Army Air Co-Operation Unit. She was used on three occasions but received accurate hits that saw her being sent off for repair on the 29th of November 1938. After repair she spent a long period in storage with No.6MU. She was required for drone duties with No.1 AACU, arriving on the 9th of March 1942. Under remote control she took off in the morning of the 4th of August, but just as she was airborne, the controller on the ground saw a problem and had to make a forced landing onto the grass just off the end of the runway, the Queen Bee dug her nose into the soft ground and flipped over destroying the upper wing and breaking her back. She was ‘Struck off Charge on the 31st of August and scrapped.
Wreckage:
All removed.
Additional Information:
Anti-invasion preparations involving the Tiger Moth, Queen Bee and some privately owned examples such as the Puss Moth.
In the aftermath of Britain's disastrous campaign in France, in August 1940 three proposals for beach defence systems were put forward; 350 Tiger Moths were fitted with bomb racks to serve as light bombers as a part of Operation Banquet. A more radical conversion involved the "paraslasher", a scythe-like blade fitted to a Tiger Moth and intended to cut parachutists canopies as they descended. Flight tests proved the idea, but it was not officially adopted. The Tiger Moth was also tested as a dispenser of Paris Green rat poison for use against ground troops, with powder dispensers located under the wings.
Among the Banquet plans was Banquet Light De Havilland put forward plans for converting the Tiger Moth into a bomber by equipping it with eight 20 lb (9 kg) bomb racks beneath the rear cockpit. As an alternative, the bomb-racks could be installed four on each side under the lower planes, which would avoid trimming difficulties. The racks had been designed for the military version of the DH Dragon Rapide, supplied to Iraq eight years previously. Trials were conducted at Hatfield and at the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down and the machines earned a satisfactory report. Tests were also carried out with a Tiger Moth carrying a 240 lb (109 kg) bomb. Modification of the relatively small number of Miles Magister trainers were also attempted but this proved troublesome, and Banquet Light mostly used Tiger Moths.
The Banquet Light strike force would be used for Army co-operation, bombing concentrations of airborne troops or soldiers landing on the beaches. The two-seater Tiger Moth bombers should be flown solo into an attack at low altitude until the enemy was identified, climb to 800 feet (240 m) and dive to 500 feet (150 m) to release the bombs.
Most of the pilots for Banquet Light would be students who had not yet graduated. The scheme required that trainee pilots should be introduced to bombing at an early stage in their instruction in case they needed to go into action immediately. Instructors were told to "take every opportunity to carry out practice bombing”, With no dummy bombs available early in 1940, training exercises were carried out with the aircraft flown from the front cockpit by instructors and house bricks were thrown over the side from the rear cockpit. It was discovered that the bricks fell slower than a diving Tiger Moth and instructions were given to throw the bricks forcefully away from the aircraft.
Sources:
www.rafcommands.com
DH Queen Bee Production Data.
rafaberporth.org.uk
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 01-Jul-2022 12:00 | Davies 62 | Added |
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