ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 166296
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| Date: | Monday 30 April 1945 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito PR Mk XVI |
| Owner/operator: | 680 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | MM333 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | RAF stn Lydda, British Mandate of Palestine -
 Israel
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Dodecanese, Greece |
| RAF Lydda, Mandatory Palestine |
Mosquito MM333: Took off for a Photo recco mission over Cyprus and Rhodos. 30/04/1945
The plane had been over Cyprus taking photographs, and someone on the Rhodos had taken a pot-shot at the plane and killed the pilot. The observer took over the controls and flew the plane to RAF Lydda, and informed the control tower the situation he was in. With the pilot sitting on the left of the cockpit, and the observer on the right it was impossible for him to reach the controls for the flaps and undercarriage which were situated near the pilot's left knee. It was a case of making a belly landing and trusting to luck. He made one dummy run over the runway to see how to land, (a Mosquito lands at 120 mph with flaps and undercart down, normally). Finally he made a good approach and touched down about halfway down the runway, straight away his speed dropped down to about 50 mph, the props were milling over, and the plane shot up about 50 feet into the air, luckily it stayed horizontal and carried on a further 200 feet, and finished up on the grass at the end of the runway. When the Fire Crew with Crash Tender arrived they found that the fuselage behind seats in the cockpit had sheared off, (mostly made of Balsa wood), but the Observer got out unharmed. He received a medal for his bravery, by bringing the aircraft, with photographs back to a British base, safely.
Crew:
F/O (175267) Ronald James WATSON (pilot) RAFVR - killed by ground fire.
W/O (1399897) Laurence Kenneth KEVAN DFC (nav.) RAFVR - wounded in one arm by ground fire.
Sources:
1.http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txtt
2.ORB 680 Sqdn RAF
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2014 17:31 | Nepa | Added |
| 14-Jun-2014 16:00 | Nepa | Updated [Narrative] |
| 30-Jun-2014 07:18 | Next | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Sep-2014 17:50 | MiG17 | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 25-Sep-2015 07:13 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
| 04-Oct-2019 18:05 | Nepa | Updated [Other fatalities, Source, Narrative, Operator] |
| 25-Jun-2023 09:03 | Nepa | Updated [[Other fatalities, Source, Narrative, Operator]] |
| 31-Dec-2023 23:04 | Nepa | Updated [Narrative, Operator] |
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