Date:	Sunday 29 October 1939
Time:	day
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	35 (Madras Presidency) Sqn RAF
Registration:	K9472
MSN:	F.3061
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Tidal Mill, Carew River, Carew Cheriton, Pembrokeshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Carew Cheriton, Pembrokeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Fairey Battle Mk.I K9472,("WT-N") of 35 Squadron, RAF Cranfield, Bedfordshire: Written off (destroyed) 29/10/39 when "flew into cliff" (sic), near Carew Cheriton. Pembrokeshire. All three crew killed:

Pilot Officer Geoffrey Arthur Cyril Rhind (Service Number 41322, aged 19) killed
AC.1 Ewart Wynne Looker (Service Number 551250, aged 20) killed
AC.2 Bernard Connor (Service Number 615297, aged 20) killed

According to a published source (see links #6 & #7):

"K9472 was departing for some air firing practice on 29 October 1939 when the engine failed shortly after take-off. The handwritten notes on the Air Ministry accident report card say the young pilot, Geoffrey Arthur Cyril Rhind, turned downwind towards the aerodrome, lost height and flew into a "cliff face". (Note: Whilst the card shows “cliff face”, the aircraft actually crashed in an inlet close to the Tidal Mill at Carew Cheriton)

"Should have landed straight ahead - not attempt to turn back on failing engine," it adds. The Battle crashed and caught fire near to the tidal mill on the bank of Carew River, by Carew Castle. All three on board were killed: Rhind, the pilot, plus his two crew: Bernard Connor and Ewart Wynne Looker."

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1976 page 78)
2. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997 p 138)
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1611: http://www.rafcommands.com/database/air81/index.php
4. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939a.htm
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2436210/rhind,-geoffrey-arthur-cyril/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2957766/looker,-ewart-wynne/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2453409/connor,-bernard/
8. http://www.aerialcombat.co.uk/2017/08/remembering-those-who-never-made-it-into-battle.html
9. https://35squadron.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/fairey-battle-k9472-29101939/
10. https://www.flightartworks.com/media/0ddb7caf-3c22-4040-8f4e-0d4f43b5bc23-fairey-battle-in-flight

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-Apr-2018 13:42	Dr. John Smith	Added
25-Apr-2018 13:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Phase]
26-Oct-2018 18:34	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
26-Jun-2019 00:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]