Date:	Thursday 23 August 1951
Time:	day
Type:	North American AT-16 Harvard T.2B
Owner/operator:	600 (City of London) Sqn RAF
Registration:	FT414
MSN:	14A-1454
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Biggin Hill, Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent
Destination airport:	RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
NA Harvard 43-13155 (MSN 14A-1454) Delivered to RAF as Harvard IIb FT414. To No 16 (Polish) Service Flying Training School, Newton, Nottinghamshire August 1944.(until December 1945). To No 600 (City of London) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, Biggin Hill, Kent August 1946

Written off (destroyed) 23 August 1951: While landing at RAF Biggin Hill, the aircraft started to swing off the runway, and an attempt was made to overshoot. However, the aircraft instead struck an aircraft dispersal pen, and burst into flames. Flight Lieutenant Francis John ENSELL, M.B., Ch.B. (Service Number 501470) was awarded the George Medal for his efforts in saving the pilot of Harvard FT414. His citation for the award of the George Medal reads as follows:

"St. James's Palace, S.W.1.
13th November, 1951.
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the George Medal to: —
Flight Lieutenant Francis John ENSELL, M.B., Ch.B. (501470), Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force Station,Biggin Hill.

On August 23rd. 1951, a Harvard aircraft crashed into some dispersal pens on 'the edge of the aerodrome at Biggin Hill, and immediately burst into flames. The pilot, who was seriously injured, was trapped in the cockpit. Flight Lieutenant Ensell, Station Medical Officer, arrived with the ambulance and, despite the extreme danger to himself, went to the rescue of the trapped pilot.

It was obvious that in his excited, half-conscious state, the pilot would be difficult to extricate. Acting calmly and without hesitation, Flight Lieutenant Ensell administered morphia to the pilot and as soon as this had quietened him, dragged him out of the cockpit thereby saving his life. The whole of the interior of the aircraft was blazing furiously, the cockpit was full of smoke and flames and there was an immediate danger of the petrol tank exploding.

Flight Lieutenant Ensell stood beside the cockpit with the flames all round him and worked with completely calm efficiency at his rescue task. His shoes were badly scorched and his uniform ruined. Flight Lieutenant Ensell acted with great bravery and with no thought for his personal safety and set an example of courage and devotion to duty of the highest order in risking his life to save that of a comrade."

According to the website of the Royal College of Surgeons "Francis John Ensell was born on 27 May 1926 and graduated in medicine at Birmingham in 1949. He held house appointments at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the General Hospital, Birmingham, and took the FRCS in 1960. He had served in the Royal Air Force and was awarded the George Medal for bravery while station medical officer at Biggin Hill, when he saved the life of a semi-conscious pilot whom he dragged from a blazing aircraft. He was chief medical officer to the British Aircraft Corporation, Filton, Bristol, and consultant occupational health physician to Bristol University and to the West of England Engineering Employers' Association. He was remembered by his colleagues in occupational health and general practice as an enthusiast in his field and as a staunch friend. He died in July 1975 aged 49, survived by his wife and daughters".

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.117 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. The Harvard File (John F Hamlin, Air Britain, 1988 p.102)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.164
4. 600 (City of London) Squadron, RAF ORB (Operations Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/6/1950 to 30/4/1955: National Archvies (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/2503 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505141
5. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1943_2.html
6. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39382/page/5919/data.pdf
7. https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/lives/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ASSET$002f0$002fSD_ASSET:378677/one?qu=%22rcs%3A+E006494%22&rt=false%7C%7C%7CIDENTIFIER%7C%7C%7CResource+Identifier

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
08-Feb-2021 03:57	Dr. John Smith	Added
08-Feb-2021 03:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
08-Feb-2021 08:15	Sicak	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]