Date:	Monday 24 March 1941
Time:	day
Type:	Boulton Paul Defiant Mk I
Owner/operator:	141 Sqn RAF
Registration:	N1795
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Watling Street near RAF Gravesend, Kent, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	RAF Gravesend, Kent
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Defiant N1795/'TW-W' 141 Squadron, RAF: Took off from RAF Gravesend for an air test, after it had received a 30 hour service, 24 March 1941. The engine failed just after they lifted off. The Defiant rapidly lost height, skidded across a field, and crashed into an embankment on Watling Street, not far off the end of the runway.

The wings were torn off, as was the propeller assembly, and the fuselage ended up on its port side, with the tail section twisted upside down. Luckily it did not catch fire and crew they managed to escape with minor injuries
Crew:
Pilot Officer (41230) Denis Conon WILLIAMS (pilot) RAF - injured
Pilot Officer (79216) Geoffrey Frank Colman PLEDGER (Air Gunner) RAFVR - injured

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1977 p, 9)
2. https://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/WilliamsDC.htm
2. ORB 141 Squadron RAF for October 1939 to December 1941: National Archives (PRO Kew) File Air 27/969: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2503608
3. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2449741/dennis-conon-williams/
4. https://www.key.aero/comment/2003175#comment-2003175
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=N1795
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravesend_Airport#Royal_Air_Force
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._141_Squadron_RAF#Second_World_War

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