Date:	Saturday 9 December 1939
Time:	day
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	98 Sqn RAF
Registration:	K9467
MSN:	F.3056
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	4 miles SW of Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Hucknall, Nottinghamshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Reformed as part of the great expansion of the RAF during the mid-1930s on 17 February 1936, 98 Sqn, initially equipped with Hinds, received in June 1938 more modern aircraft in the shape of the Fairey Battle. The squadron immediately began working up to an operational pitch, a process given new impetus when the so-called `Munich Crisis’ broke in September 1938. Training and exercises continued the next year but when war was declared in September 1939, instead of moving to France with the AASF, the unit was redesignated as a reserve squadron. Its task was to provide operational training for crews destined for the front line Battle squadrons in France. In the next months, it provided a steady flow of trained crews to the front line, a process not without incident.

One of these happened on 9 December. During a training flight, the Battle I K9467 of 98 Sqn crashed, in poor visibility, on high ground 4 miles SW of Stow-on-the-Wold, 15 miles ENE of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The pilot, Pilot Officer Peter Denis Brock Stevens, was wounded but the two other crew, Sgt Frederick Hinson (observer, age 39, Service Number 296603) and AC.1 Leslie Reginald Bull (Wireless Op/Air gunner, aged 19, Service Number 620416), were killed.

1. "Bomber Command losses, vol 1. Aircraft and Crews lost during 1939-1940", by W R Chorley, ISBN 0-904597-85-7
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain 1976 p 76)
3. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997 p 132)
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1721: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16359666
5. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939a.htm
6. http://www.rafjever.org/98squadhistory2.htm
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stow-on-the-Wold
8. http://www.maplandia.com/united-kingdom/england/south-west/gloucestershire-county/stow-on-the-wold/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2733642/hinson,-frederick/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2451329/bull,-leslie-reginald/
11. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/133071247/frederick-hinson
12. http://www.theygavetheirtoday.com/98-squadron.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Dec-2017 13:55	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
28-Apr-2018 22:20	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
01-Nov-2018 10:08	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
26-Jun-2019 20:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]