ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 280684
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| Date: | Saturday 29 August 1942 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Bristol Beaufighter Mk IIF |
| Owner/operator: | 125 (Newfoundland) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | T3039 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Fairwood Common, Wernganrose Farm, Glamorganshire, South Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | RAF Fairwood Common, Glamorganshire |
| RAF ??? |
Beaufighter T3039 was one of 300 aircraft ordered from the Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton in Bristol. Delivered between September 1941 and April 1942, she was on of the first batch. Her one and only squadron was No.125 squadron.
On 24 September 1941, the squadron moved to RAF Fairwood Common and became fully operational, with the Defiant proving to be a more than effective night fighter. By February 1942, No. 125 Squadron began to convert over to the Beaufighter, with these becoming operational by the 21st of April. Defiants and Hurricane II’b’s were also used to supplement the Beaufighters in the squadron's patrols. With an increasing number of Newfoundlanders being posted into the Squadron's ranks, some aircrew began to name their aircraft in recognition of their Newfoundland heritage such as, St John, Corner Brook Deer Lake and Buchans, this then was a classic example of unofficially naming aircraft as to being gifted (see incident 205.)
The first Beaufighter received at Fairwood was T3147, then the next to touch down was T3039 followed by T3149, all had come from 19 MU at St Athan on the 6th of February 1942. 125 squadron had their first op’ from Fairwood on the 26th of April, along with Defiants and Hurricanes their Beaufighters were involved with and enemy raid on Bath, they claimed two damaged enemy aircraft, a Dornier 215 or 217 and a Heinkel He111.
T3039 flew on her first sortie on the 31st of May crewed by W/Co D.V. Ivins and Sgt Clark. (W/Co Ivins was killed on the 18th of May in Mosquito DZ712.) Their tasking was originally for air Identification tests, but they were called by “Humbug” control to head out to 50 miles SW of Angle and a suspect ‘Bogey’. The bogey turned out to be a Coastal Command Whitley!
On the 23rd of June, T3039 crewed by P/O W V Hall and Sgt G Hewitt were to take part along with two other Beau’s in an Army Co-Operation exercises with 101 Brigade, Royal Marines NE of Carmarthen until the 27th. The aim of the Ex’ was to report on troop & vehicle movements and the effectiveness of camouflage and dispersal of troops and vehicles also the reaction by troop on dummy attacks by the air force.
“5th of June, two Beau’s, T3039 and V8140 crewed by P/O J A P Boyd and Sgt F Saunders and P/O Turnbull and Sgt Lawn consecutively, to intercept the known ‘Paris-Zenit’ enemy weather recce’ aircraft over the Irish Sea. A Junkers Ju-88 was sighted west of Scillies, the method of attack planned was one above and one below, Boyd and Saunders were the first to make contact from above, and they encountered incoming fire which struck the nose plate, ricocheted off the armoured bulkhead and exited out the same plate although a little higher. Boyd got to 1,000 yards range and opened fire, but no hits observed. The E/A was seen to dive into the patchy cloud, Boyd followed them in and regained contact, he fired another burst but again no hits seen. Meanwhile Turnbull saw the Ju-88 from 17,000 yards distance and closed the gap to 1,500 and fired a full ‘Broadside’ of four 20mm cannon and eight .303 Browning’s, but nothing obvious, he closed to 800 distance, got in another burst but the E/A was ‘Jinking’ and disappeared into cloud again. The E/A managed through violent flying and height adjustments, escaped.
Middle of August, the squadron started to exchange their mark 2’s for the superior mark sixes before their move away. T3039 is listed as a 125 aircraft but on the 29th of August there is nothing mentioning its demise after taking off from runway 29, it failed to gain height and struck airfield buildings which lay 400 yards beyond the end of the runway and on the gradual rising ground. The ferry pilot appears to have survived but his/her name is sadly unrecorded. T3039 was written off in the crash with its back broken. Squadron records also have nothing about this incident, probably because, P/O Boyd and Sgt Saunders in R2310 were on an air test when they were vectored to a bogey in mid channel. They successfully made contact with a Junkers Ju-88. This time his aim was true and after closing to 150 yards and firing another full broadside, they destroyed the E/A with it crashing into the sea approximately 50 miles west of Lundy
Crew:
Unknown.
Wreckage:
All easily removed.
Many years ago, I met Mr Soloman, the farmer that T3039 crashed into and he told me of how there were two Beaufighters that crashed into these two fields, the other, the crew were killed which he witnessed and the other, by the time he got to the scene, he was met with the pilot walking up the field. Mr Soloman showed me a photo album, within it contained an extremely rare wartime photograph of the crash along with another series of images of him and his father in a tractor towing a trailer with a huge Hermann bomb on board! He told me how they were asked by the bomb disposal team to take it down to the marshes for its destruction. Apparently on detonation, the blast took out a number of windows in Llanelli over the other side of the Loughor estuary. Imagine my amazement when from the bottom of a cupboard he showed me a large chunk of shrapnel from the Hermann. Sadly, Mr Soloman passed away ten years ago, before I could talk to him again!
Additional Information:
• 23/05 4800 ft (now 04/22 4,429 ft)
• 29/11 4100 ft (now 10/28 2,812 ft)
• 33/15 4100 ft (no longer in use)
Sources:
www.nationalarchive.gov.uk
www.rafcommands.com
Local knowledge.
Steve Jones 'Fallen Flyers'.
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 23-Jul-2022 05:42 | Davies 62 | Added |
| 23-Jul-2022 22:10 | Nepa | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator] |
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