Date:	Tuesday 11 January 1938
Time:	day
Type:	De Havilland DH.60M Moth
Owner/operator:	8 Sqn RAF
Registration:	K1893
MSN:	1643
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Dar Mansur, near Ash Shaikh Outhman District, Aden -   Yemen
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Khormaksar, Aden
Destination airport:

Narrative:
c/no. 1643: DH.60M [Gipsy I]. Taken on charge as K1893 21.2.31 at RAF Kenley, Surrey. To RAF Sealand for packing and crating for shipment overseas 14.8.33. To 8 Squadron, RAF Khormaksar, Aden 12.9.33.

Written off (destroyed) when over-stressed during aerobatics and wings came off over Dar Mansur, near Khormaksar, Aden (Yemen) 11.1.38 and destroyed by fire on impact. Both crew on board killed:

Acting Pilot Officer Martin Henry Bromley Davies killed 11.1.38
LAC (Leading Aircraftman) John Hockings Campbell killed 11.1.38

According to the official Air Ministry announcement in "Flight" magazine (January 20, 1938 page 71 - see link #3)

"Flying Accidents
THE Air Ministry regrets to announce the following accident:
Acting P/O Martin Henry Bromley Davies and L.A/C. John Hockings Campbell lost their lives in an accident which occurred at Mansur, near Khormaksar, on January 11 to an aircraft of No. 8 (Bomber) Squadron, Aden. Acting P/O Davies was the pilot."

However, the report in "Flight" magazine does contain one error: Martin Henry Bromley Davies was promoted from "Acting P/O" to a full P/O with effect from 4.1.38, just one week before his fatal accident (see link #6). The London Gazette, for 25 January, 1938 does however state that the promotion seems to have been officially promulgated posthumously :

"The undermentioned Acting Pilot Officers on probation are confirmed in their appointments and graded as Pilot Officers from 4th Jan. 1938: — Martin Henry Bromley DAVIES (since deceased)"

Ash Shaikh Outhman District is a district of the Aden Governorate, Yemen. Sheikh Othman derives its name from a religious shrine for Sheikh Othman Al-Zubairi Al-Wahki. The shrine is located in the original village of "Sheikh Al-Daweel".

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain. 1976 page 11)
2. 8 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-1-1930 to 31-12-1938: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/113: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2502745
3. https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1938/1938%20-%200189.html [Paywall]
4. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh60.pdf
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?314-RAF-officer-deaths-1-1-29-3-9-39
6. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34476/page/518/data.pdf#
7. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Accf1939.htm
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Shaikh_Outhman_District

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
14-Apr-2018 23:04	Dr. John Smith	Added
14-Apr-2018 23:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
10-Nov-2018 18:32	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
04-Oct-2023 19:41	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Operator, Operator]]