Date:	Thursday 6 October 1938
Time:	day
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	226 Sqn RAF
Registration:	K7589
MSN:	F.2347
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Pumlunom Cwmbiga, Plynlimon, 8 miles W of Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Harwell, Didcot, Oxfordshire
Destination airport:	RAF Harwell, Didcot, Oxfordshire
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Fairey Battle Mk.1 K7589, 226 Sqiadron, RAF Harwell: Written off (destroyed) 6/10/38 when crashed on mountain at Plynlimon, Montgomeryshire. The crew were on a cross country flight from Harwell to Bardsey Island and back when they entered poor weather over mid-Wales. To the west of Llanidloes, Pilot Officer MacEwan lost control of the aircraft and it entered a dive which it had not recovered from, when it struck the eastern side of Pumlunom Cwmbiga, an outlier of Plynlimon, 8 miles west of Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire. All three crew killed:

Pilot Officer Alastair Lilburn MacEwen (pilot, aged 23) killed on active service 6/10/1938, buried at St. Andrews Eastern Cemetery, Fife, Scotland
Corporal Frank James (aged 26) killed on active service 6/10/1938, buried at Redcar Cemetery, Redcar, North Yorkshire
AC1 Kenneth Adrian Clark (aged 28) killed on active service 6/10/1938, burial location not known

According to the official Air Ministry announcement in "Flight" magazine (October 13, 1938 page 320 - see link #6)

"FLYING ACCIDENTS
P/0 Alistair Lilburn MacEwen, Cpl. Frank James and A/C.1 Kenneth Adrian Clark lost their lives in an accident which occurred at Plynlimmon, near Llandidloes, Montgomeryshire, on October 6, to an aircraft of No. 226 (Bomber) Squadron, Harwell. P/O MacEwen was the pilot, and Cpl. James and A/C.1 Clark the other members of the crew"

1. The K File - The RAF of the 1930s (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1995 p.126)
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1976 page 62)
3. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997 p.126)
4. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939.htm
5. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/wales/fairey-battle-k7589-pumlumon-cwmbiga/
6. http://www.dyfedarchaeology.org.uk/projects/crashsites2012-13.pdf
7. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?1829-Fate-crew-Harrow-K6971-6th-Oct-1938&styleid=3
8. https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1938/1938%20-%202828.html
9. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/280100
10. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/280101
11. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/280102

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
16-Mar-2018 20:43	Dr. John Smith	Added
16-Mar-2018 21:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
29-Oct-2018 18:14	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
29-Oct-2020 23:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Source, Narrative]