Date:	Tuesday 7 July 1936
Time:	day
Type:	Gloster Gauntlet Mk II
Owner/operator:	56 Sqn RAF
Registration:	K5298
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Marshland near the River Medway, Snodland, Kent, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF North Weald, Essex
Destination airport:	RAF West Malling, Maidstone, Kent
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Gloster Gauntlet Mk.II K5298, 56 (Punjab) Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) 7 July 1936 when caught fire in flight & abandoned over Snodland, Kent. Pilot bailed out and survived, although injured. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Portsmouth Evening News" - Wednesday 8 July 1936)

PILOT CRASHES
But Made Sure Would Miss Village.
An R.A.F. pilot, Sergt. Davis, heroically remained in his burning machine while passing over the village of Snodland, Kent and did not make a parachute descent until certain his plane would not crash in the village. Sergt. Davis is stationed at North weald Aerodrome, Epping. Hundreds of people in the village saw the flames shooting from his machine, but the pilot continued his flight until above open country. He landed by his parachute and the machine crashed some distance away from him. Sergeant Davis was badly burned about the head and face before he jumped, and is detained at St. Bart's Hospital, Rochester. Davis landed on some allotments, while his machine nose-dived into a marsh near the river Medway, and buried itself twelve feet in the ground. The machine exploded on striking the ground, and is now a mass of twisted wreckage."

Crew of Gauntlet K5298:
Sergeant Harold Edwin Davis RAF (pilot, service number 370569) - bailed out, survived with burn injuries to the hands and face. However he recovered sufficiently to be part of 56 Squadron when it displayed at Hendon in 1937

Gauntlet K5298 formally Struck off Charge as FACE (Flying Accident Category E) on 1 September 1936. Total flying time on airframe was only 13 hours

1. Air-Britain The K File The RAF of the 1930s (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1995 p.181)
2. The Times, London, dated 8th July 1936.
3. Portsmouth Evening News - Wednesday 8th July 1936
4. Chatham Standard - Tuesday 25th March 1986
5. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=7807.0
6. http://mmpbooks.biz/gauntlet/AppendixGauntlet.pdf
7. https://rclibrary.co.uk/files_titles/1658/Profile_010_Gloster_Gauntlet.pdf
8. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?13705-Pilot-Sgt-H-quot-E-quot-Davis-56-Sqn-1936-and-1937
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Medway
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snodland

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Oct-2009 03:18	JINX	Added
15-Jan-2012 14:36	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Source]
15-Jul-2013 08:20	JINX	Updated [Operator, Source]
02-Aug-2013 13:18	JINX	Updated [Operator]
02-Aug-2013 14:28	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
03-Aug-2013 15:16	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
03-Aug-2013 22:48	JINX	Updated [Operator]
03-Jun-2015 15:22	Quentin	Updated [Operator]
17-Feb-2020 04:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
17-Feb-2020 04:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
03-Mar-2022 13:05	JINX	Updated [Operator, Location]
05-Jul-2022 11:28	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]