Date:	Tuesday 29 May 1945
Time:
Type:	Miles Martinet TT Mk I
Owner/operator:	2 AGS RAF
Registration:	HP517
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Coast Road, Easington Colliery, Co. Durham, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Dalcross, Inverness, Scotland
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Martinet target-tow aircraft on communications flight lost engine power. Pilot attempted forced-landing but collided with car causing the deaths of the two occupants.
Crew:
P/O (191471) Robert Barker WILSON (pilot) RAFVR - killed instantly.
Car driver: Thomas Edwin DAVIES, died in hospital at Sunderland from severe burns.
Car passenger: Miss Ethel Simmonds, killed instantly. They were Civil Servants attached to the Ministry of Works at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, returning to their office from a site visit on Teesside.
Two civilians, local men Tom Douglas and Stan Graham, were commended by the Coroner for trying to save the car occupants. Verdicts of accidental death were returned. Mr Douglas said the aircraft stalled as P/O Wilson steered it away from nearby houses.

1. Durham County Archives.
2. Air Britain - Crashes in North East England
3. Contemporaneous news reports May-June 1945 (crash through to inquest), British Newspaper Archives.
4. Barnsley War Memorials - Brierley Parish Church, where there is a 1953 stained glass window in tribute to P-O Wilson.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
21-Apr-2024 12:46	Paul Allonby	Added
23-Apr-2024 11:04	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
23-Apr-2024 11:04	Nepa	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator]
23-Apr-2024 11:05	Nepa	Updated [Location, Operator]
23-Apr-2024 11:05	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
23-Apr-2024 11:06	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
23-Apr-2024 11:06	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
23-Apr-2024 11:07	Nepa	Updated [Narrative, Operator]
23-Apr-2024 11:08	Nepa	Updated [Narrative, Operator]
23-Apr-2024 11:10	Nepa	Updated [Country, Nature, Narrative, Operator]
23-Apr-2024 11:13	Nepa	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Operator]