ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 73106
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| Date: | Thursday 23 March 1944 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito NF Mk XIII |
| Owner/operator: | 488 (NZ) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | HK535/SM700 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | RAF stn Fairwood Common, Glamorganshire, Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Bradwell Bay, Essex |
| RAF Fairwood Common, Glamorganshire |
Mosquito HK535: Overshot single-engined landing and undercarriage raised to stop RAF Fairwood Common 23/03/1944
Crew:???? Ok
No. 488 Squadron was reformed on the 25th of June 1942 at Church Fenton, Yorkshire, as a night fighter 'intruder' unit equipped with the twin-engine Beaufighter. The squadron aircraft carried the code letters ‘ME’. When it switched to a defensive role in August 1943 it was re-equipped with the De Havilland Mosquito. Apart from the F Mk.XV, all Mosquito fighters and fighter bombers featured a modified canopy structure incorporating a flat, single piece armoured windscreen, and the crew entry/exit door was moved from the bottom of the forward fuselage to the right side of the nose, just forward of the wing leading edge. The NF Mk.XIII, of which 270 were built, was the production equivalent of the Mk.XII conversions. These "centimetric" radar sets were mounted in a solid "thimble bull nose" radome, which required the machine guns to be dispensed with.
To fly these technically superior aircraft squadrons had one or two training aircraft of the type which was fitted with an extra set of flying controls where the navigator/Radio/Radar operator sat. Built by De Havilland at Leavesden, SM700 was one of these aircraft allotted to the squadron. However, she didn’t come off the production line as a dual seat aircraft, she was built as a mk XIII and had the serial number as HK535, she was issued to the RAF at 27MU on the 9th of January 1944 then allocated to 488 squadron on the 8th of February 1944. One other mark thirteen was taken for further alterations to Dual trainer, she was HK536 and allocated the new number of SM701, she was due for an entirely different career. She went to RAF Heston on the 20th of January 1944 and ended up with the RAE (Royal Air Establishment) on the 1st of March, SM701 was SoC and scrapped on the 13th of September 1946.
Recording squadron operations took precedence over training, resulting with these flights often going un-recorded. Such is the case for SM700. NOTHING was recorded within the squadron records, not even the crew details or their condition in any event which was regarded as unspectacular. Speculation of the event, therefore, is unfounded. However, what is known is that SM700 was on one such familiarisation flight from the squadrons home aerodrome at RAF Bradwell Bay when at some point, one of the engines cut and had to be feathered and an emergency landing had to be conducted. The nearest airfield was Fairwood Common. Being unfamiliar with this ‘tricky’ airfield, the pilot, or pupil landed but with too much speed and too little flaps? It suddenly became obvious they were not going to stop in time and to evade an overshoot of the runway the undercarriage was retracted bringing the aircraft onto its belly and sliding to a stop. She was written off in this accident with only 65 and a quarter hours on her airframe, she was Cat ‘E’ and scrapped.
Sources:
1.http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txtt
2 www.lancasterbombers.net/form-78-aircraft-movement-cards
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 26-Feb-2010 01:13 | NePa | Added |
| 14-Mar-2010 22:05 | angels one five | Updated [Operator] |
| 25-Mar-2010 11:30 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Location] |
| 19-Jun-2010 16:44 | angels one five | Updated [Operator] |
| 19-May-2011 10:00 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Feb-2012 14:17 | Nepa | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 08-Jun-2014 08:43 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 21-Apr-2015 02:04 | angels one five | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location] |
| 21-Apr-2015 11:51 | Angel dot comma | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 21-Apr-2015 11:52 | Angel dot comma | Updated [Operator] |
| 21-Apr-2015 12:10 | Angel dot comma | Updated [Location] |
| 09-Aug-2015 06:10 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 30-Oct-2015 18:43 | Angel dick one five | Updated [Narrative] |
| 11-May-2019 09:04 | Nepa | Updated [Narrative, Operator] |
| 14-Nov-2021 21:50 | Nepa | Updated [Source, Narrative, Operator] |
| 19-Feb-2024 07:38 | Davies 62 | Updated [Registration, Source, Narrative] |
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