Date:	Thursday 3 September 1942
Time:	15:53
Type:	Boulton Paul Defiant Mk I
Owner/operator:	281 Sqn RAF
Registration:	N1804
MSN:	280
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Druridge Bay, south of Amble, Northumberland -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Ouston, Northumberland
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Boulton Paul Defiant N1804 of 281 Squadron, RAF Ouston, Northumberland, had been on an air to sea firing practice which failed to return. The Royal Observer Corps reported the aircraft crossing the coast at the south end of Druridge Bay, south of Amble, Northumberland at 15:53 hrs. A search was instigated but apart from a patch of oil on the sea no wreckage trace of the crew were found. Both crew were posted as "missing believed killed"

Crew of Defiant N1804:
Flying Officer (P/0151) S J Sowinski (Pilot) Polish Air Force - missing believed killed in active service 3 September 1942
Flight Sergeant (R/53763) PELLETIER (Air Gunner, aged 24) RCAF - missing believed killed in active service 3 September 1942

As no trace of Defiant N1804 or its crew of two were ever found, they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Druridge Bay is a 7-mile (11 km) long bay on the North Sea in Northumberland, England, stretching from Amble in the north to Cresswell in the south.

Flight Sergeant (R/53763) Joseph Alphonse Jean Gerard PELLETIER (Air Gunner) RCAF had been slightly injured on March 26, 1942 when he had to bail out of his 410 (Cougar) Squadron Defiant aircraft N3364 (see separate entry).

No. 281 Squadron was formed at RAF Ouston, England on 29 March 1942 as an air-sea rescue squadron. The squadron was equipped with the Supermarine Walrus and the Avro Anson. Boulton Paul Defiants were used between April and November 1942. The squadron disbanded on 22 November 1942 when it was absorbed by 282 Squadron

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain 1977 p 9)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/17853: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17685443
3. 281 Squadron ORB for the period 1/3/42 to 31/10/1945: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/1614: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2504256#imageViewerLink
4. http://www.aircrewremembered.com/haines-frank-ernest.html
5. https://www.rcafassociation.ca/heritage/history/fallen-aviators/rcaf-casualties-second-world-war/pablo-to-phillips/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._281_Squadron_RAF
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druridge_Bay
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Ouston

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Feb-2008 23:28	JINX	Added
22-Apr-2015 20:03	Juan P.Paco	Updated [Operator, Phase, Nature, Source]
25-Mar-2017 07:44	pietrzak	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative]
01-Apr-2017 20:20	mpierrela	Updated [Narrative]