Date:	Monday 26 February 1940
Time:	14:35 LT
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	3 Gp TT Flt RAF
Registration:	P2260
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Burrell’s Fields, Gosberton, 5 miles north of Spalding, Lincolnshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Mildenhall,Brandon, Suffolk
Destination airport:

Narrative:
On 26 February 1940 the Battle I P2260 of 3 Group Target Towing Flight RAF took off from Mildenhall for a target towing detail. The pilot lost control in cloud and dived into the ground at Burrell’s Fields, Gosberton, 5 miles north of Spalding, Lincolnshire, killing both crew, Sgt Thomas "Taff" Owens (pilot) and AC.2 William Mahon. Both are recorded by the CWGC as belonging to 98 Sqn.

According to a contemporary local newspaper report ("Boston Guardian" Wednesday 6 March 1940)

SPALDING - TWO YOUNG AIRMEN LOSE THEIR LIVES.
PLANE’S TERRIFIC NOSE-DIVE GOSBERTON RISEGATE TRAGEDY.
TWO YOUNG AIRMEN, aged about 26 and 18, respectively, lost their lives on Monday week, when their ’plane got into difficulties and nosedived through the clouds at terrific speed, burying the fore part of the machine deep into the ground of a field adjoining Gosberton Risegate, near Spalding. Neither the pilot of the ’plane, a sergeant, nor his observer, a youthful aircraftman had time to jump for it, for when their bodies were discovered their parachutes were found to be unopened. Mercifully, death was instantaneous, for each died from multiple injuries. On the day of the crash one body was discovered in a dyke and it was not until Tuesday, when information was received that there was a second man in the machine when it left its base that the second body was discovered. No evidence was forthcoming as to the cause of the crash. The dead men are Sergeant “Taff” Owens (his real Christian name was not known at the time of the inquest, which was held at Spalding, on Wednesday) and Aircraftman W. Mahon. Sergeant Owens was a married man.

ONE BODY IDENTIFIED
An inquiry was conducted by the South Holland Coroner, Mr. C. M. Bowser, who sat without a jury. Pilot Officer Arthur Edward Peter Pim (41733) said the two men left their station at about 2.15 p.m. on Monday to carry out a programme, but the machine failed to return. He had satisfied himself that the machine was properly tested before it left the ground. Corporal Raymond Harris, of the Royal Engineers, said at about 2.30 p.m. on Monday he heard a plane circling above the clouds directly above the spot where he was standing. “The engine was spluttering, and the plane was obviously in difficulties’ he went on. With a roar it suddenly appeared out of the clouds and nosedived at terrific speed. When it hit the ground there was a tremendous impact, followed by loud explosion. It fell in a field about 500 yards away from where I was.”

BODY BLOWN FROM COCKPIT He went to the scene of the accident and found wreckage strewn over radius of about 80 yards. Lying in a dyke, he found the body of an airman who must have been blown out of the cockpit. He had a search instituted in an effort to find some means of identifying the body and the make of the plane. A search of the deceased’s clothing revealed the name Sergeant T. Owen” on the inside of his vest. As near as he could estimate, the plane was travelling in a south-easterly direction. P.C. Baldwin, of Gosberton Risegate, said he found that the engine and propeller of the machine were buried deep in the earth, and that the remainder was a total wreck, parts having been strewn in all directions over a radius of some 100 yards.

PARACHUTES UNOPENED
He saw the body of an airman, with a parachute attached to it, but it was unopened He found another parachute, also unopened. lying in an adjoining field about 50 yards away from the wreck. He continued his search, but could find nothing to assist the inquiry, with the exception of an airman’s uniform belt, of which he took possession, together with a pocket watch, which had stopped at 2.35. There were very low clouds at the time. The next day he found the body of another airman in the dyke in which the first man was found. The body was pinned down by some wreckage. The Coroner found that death was due to multiple injuries caused by the crashing of the plane piloted by the sergeant with the aircraftman his observer, and in each case he returned a verdict of 'Death by Misadventure'".

Crew fatalities:
Sergeant Thomas Owens RAF 98 Squadron (Service Number: 565435, aged 26) killed on active service 26 February 1940 , buried at Aberfan Bryntaf Cemetery
AC.2 (Aircraftman 2nd Class) William Mahon, RAF 98 Squadron (Service Number: 624822, aged 18) killed on active service 26 February 1940, buried at Moston (St. Joseph’s) Roman Catholic Cemetery.

1. “Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses volume 8. Heavy Conversion Units and Miscellaneous Units 1939-1947’’, by W R Chorley, ISBN 1-85780-156-3
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1849: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16471324
3. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?568-Battle-I-loss-1940
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2717528/thomas-owens/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2404029/william-mahon/
6. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/217687/
7. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/98_squadron.html
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosberton

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
21-Apr-2017 10:46	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
25-Nov-2018 16:25	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]