Date:	Monday 11 December 1939
Time:	evening
Type:	Handley Page Hampden Mk I
Owner/operator:	76 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P1267
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Horsenden Manor, Princes Risborough, 6 miles SSW of Aylesbury, Bucks -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
From the outbreak of World War II up to 8 April 1940, 76 Sqn RAF was based at RAF Upper Heyford and performed an operational training role as Group Pool Squadron. In the afternoon of 11 December 1939, the 22-year old Canadian Plt Off Charles Douglas Stevens of this squadron did his first solo flight in a Hampden. He carried out solo circuits and landings in Hampden I P1267 but then became lost, and in the failing light, crashed into a tree at Horsenden Manor, Princes Risborough, 6 miles South-South-West of Aylesbury, Buckingshamshire. The machine was a total wreck and the pilot was killed. This was the first fatal accident of the squadron in the two years and nine months since re-forming at RAF Finningley on 12 April 1937. Stevens was also the first Novan Scotian to die overseas during the war. He is buried in the Uxbridge cemetery.

1. "Bomber Command losses, vol 1. Aircraft and Crews lost during 1939-1940", by W R Chorley, ISBN 0-904597-85-7
2. "Through Footless Halls of Air: The Stories of a Few of the Many who Failed to Return", by Floyd Williston. ISBN 1-896182-44-5
3. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?12777-Hampden-P1267-76-Sqn-RAF-Upper-Heyford-11-Dec-1939
4. http://www.rafinfo.org.uk/BCWW2Losses/1939-1940.htm
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2433340/stevens,-charles-douglas/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsenden
7. https://www.doogal.co.uk/ShowMap.php?postcode=HP27%209NF
8. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939a.htm
9. http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2433340

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Dec-2017 08:56	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
28-Apr-2018 22:50	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
10-Nov-2018 22:18	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]