Date:	Wednesday 5 May 1943
Time:
Type:	Boulton Paul Defiant TT Mk I
Owner/operator:	1622 (AACU) Flt RAF
Registration:	DR940
MSN:	981
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Becton Farm, 1 mile south of New Milton, Hampshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Gosport, Hampshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Boulton Paul Defiant DR940/'U4-E': Written off (destroyed) 5 May 1943 when crashed at Becton Farm, 1 mile South of New Milton, Hampshire. Both crew were killed. According to the following transcript of the incident at the National Archives at Kew (File AIR 5/22/W1940 - see link #2):
"Brief Description.
The pilot was detailed to carry out a 3 hours' co-operation flight involving towing a target at 1,000 ft for an Anti-Aircraft Gunnery School. It has been the custom for pilots of the towing aircraft to contact the firing and control point of the ranges, and to examine ground signals by flying low before commencement of the opening exercise. In this case the wind was light and the weather fair as the pilot approached from seawards, flying very low over the water. The cliffs are at this point 60/70 ft high and over these the pilot "zoomed" in a very steep climb, estimated by the Controller Petty Officer of the ranges at over 45°. The engine seems to have cut out at about 300 ft and the aircraft to have stopped its climb; it then fell into a steep dive with the left wing down and crashed to the ground, bursting into flames on impact. The two occupants were killed. Examination of the wreckage failed to disclose any structural defects of the airframe or reason for the engine failure.
Cause of accident.
It is considered that the accident was caused by an error of judgement on the part of the pilot who stalled the aircraft at the stop of a steep climb. The stall may have been accentuated by the pilot applying negative "g" to the aircraft in checking his climb too violently; this is quite easy to do and is the natural consequence of stopping quickly in a very steep climb. It is also characteristic of the Merlin XX that negative "g" will cut off power as long as applied".
Crew:
Sgt (1361154) Norman Evan REILLY (pilot) RAFVR: killed
AC2 (1724940) James WRIGHT (AG) RAFVR: killed

According to a contemporary newspaper report on the death on one of the crew ("Dundee Courier" - Friday 07 May 1943).
"DUNDEE PILOT AND GUNNER KILLED.
Mrs J. E. Reilly, 15 Tullideph Place, Dundee, has received information that her elder son, Sgt-Pilot Norman Ewan Reilly, R.A.F. (20), has been killed on service.
Former pupil of Logie Central School, Sgt-Pilot Reilly joined the staff of D.C. Thomson and Co. in June 1938 and was serving his apprenticeship in the process department before joining the R.A.F. in August 1941.
He was a piper in 6th Coy. B.B., a member of the home guard and of the "Courier" Cricket Club. His father, Mr John Reilly, is a Corporal in the R.O.A.C., M.E.F."

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft DA100-DZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain. 1987 p.67)
2. Dundee Courier - Friday 7 May 1943.
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 5/22/W1530: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6577744
4. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2459394/norman-evan-reilly/
5. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2720392/james-wright/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Milton#New_Milton
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._667_Squadron_AAC

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
09-Feb-2008 10:23	JINX	Added
28-Oct-2014 15:52	Komes123	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Narrative]
06-Jul-2023 17:13	Nepa	Updated [[Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Narrative]]