Date:	Thursday 22 September 1938
Time:	day
Type:	de Havilland DH.93 Don Mk I
Owner/operator:	A&AEE RAF
Registration:	L2391
MSN:	9304
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Martlesham Heath, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Martlesham Heath, Suffolk
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
DeHavilland DH.93 Don L2391, A&AEE: Written off (damaged beyond repair) 22/9/38 when engine failed, aircraft undershot & undercarriage collapsed on landing at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk.

The De Havilland DH.93 Don was designed to meet Air Ministry Specification T.6/36 for a multi-role trainer and was a single-engined monoplane of wooden stressed-skin construction. The DH.93 Don was intended to be a trainer for pilots and radio operators, and as a gunnery trainer, the gunnery requirement involved the mounting of a dorsal gun turret. Student pilot and instructor sat side by side up front, while accommodation for a trainee WT (radio) operator and the turret gunner was behind in the cabin.

The prototype with test marks E-3 (later military serial number L2387) first flew on 18/6/37 and was transferred to RAF Martlesham Heath for official evaluation. In the course of the trials, more equipment was added which increased the weight, and as a result, in an attempt to reduce weight, the dorsal turret was removed. The aircraft was also modified with small auxiliary fins fitted beneath the tailplane.

Despite the changes incorporated from the fifth aircraft,[L2391] the type was deemed not suitable for training and the original order for 250 aircraft was reduced to only 50 aircraft, 20 of which were delivered as engineless airframes for ground training. The remaining aircraft served as communications and liaison aircraft, serving with No. 24 Sqn and numerous RAF Station Flights throughout the UK until early 1939, but all were grounded for use as instructional airframes in March 1939.

L2391 was the only DH.93 Don to crash; however, problems with the DH Gipsy XII engines were never rectified, as only 90 such engines were ever built. With the effective cancellation of the DH.93 Don, the engines were not required either, so there was no incentive to fix them

1. Air Britain RAF Aircraft L1000 - N9999
2. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985). London: Orbis Publishing, 1986. No ISBN.
3. Ford, Daniel. "Outmoded Teacher: de Havilland's Don Crew Trainer". Air Enthusiast, No. 105, May/June 2003. ISSN 0143-5450. pp. 74–75.
4. Jackson, A.J. de Havilland Aircraft since 1909. London:Putnam, Third edition, 1987. ISBN 0-85177-802-X.
5. https://www.warbirdsforum.com/topic/1399-got-the-de-havilland-dh-93-don/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Don
7. http://freespace.virgin.net/john.dell/Don/Don.htm
8. http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1937/1937-1676.PDF
9. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p093.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
08-Mar-2008 01:49	JINX	Added
26-Jan-2013 15:40	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport]
26-Jan-2013 15:44	Nepa	Updated [Source]
14-Oct-2013 11:13	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Destination airport]
16-Mar-2018 19:14	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
16-Mar-2018 19:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Source]