Royal Air Force - RAF

At 20:45pm on the 18th October 1943 P/O Denis Kyne took off from Wheaton Aston, which is between Stafford and Telford, for a solo night cross country navigation flight along with several other aircraft (this was his first solo night flight), all of which were taking different routes. P/O Denis Kyne was to have flown WSW to Condover then NNE to Shawbury and then ESE to return to Wheaton Aston, a route of a little over 50 miles. The weather was rapidly deteriorating and at 21:45pm it was decided to re-call all of the aircraft flying that night, the re-call was acknowledged by all but one of the aircraft, this being LX518. When the aircraft failed to return by ten past midnight it was reported as overdue, it was known that the aircraft could no-longer be airborne as there was only 2 1/2 hours of fuel onboard, with the hope that P/O Kyne may have landed elsewhere. Five days later on the 23rd October the missing aircraft was found on Margary Hill in the north-east of the Peak District, some 56 miles NNE of Wheaton Aston, it was concluded that P/O Kyne must have become lost shortly after he took off. He had radioed to say he was proceeding to his first way point which he may have reached and turned towards Shawbury, which had he done so he would have missed as their beacon had failed shortly after 9pm. After missing the Shawbury beacon P/O Kyne could have continued in a north-easterly direction until he became hopelessly lost.
Crew (21st AFU):
P/O Denis Patrick Kyne.
Source:
http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/pages/peakdistrict/peakdistrictlx518.htm

On touchdown at RAF Limavady, an undercarriage collapsed. The aircraft slid on runway before coming to rest. All five crew members were unhurt while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

While performing a training sortie from RAF Wigsley, the aircraft went out of control, partially disintegrated in the air and crashed in a field located in Colney Heath. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew (1654th CU):
P/O Ewan Moore Taylor, pilot,
Sgt Albert Rooks, flight engineer,
F/O Eric Williams, navigator,
Sgt John Fisher Thwaite, bomb aimer,
Sgt Henry Thomas Green, wireless operator and air gunner,
Sgt Edward Percy Stock, air gunner,
F/Sgt George Bruce Davies, air gunner.

While on a maritime patrol flight, the aircraft suffered an engine failure. The crew attempted to ditch the aircraft that crashed into the sea. While the copilot was rescued, all other occupants were killed.
Crew:
F/O A. M. Cameron, †
F/O G. Ingram, †
F/Sgt N. B. Williams, †
F/Sgt O. V. Proud, †
Sgt C. Leslie, †
Sgt Ritche.

The aircraft left RAF Squires Gate at approx 1940LT to carry out a night non-operational navigation B3 exercise. It crashed at 2115LT hours in Ballycastle, County Antrim, North Ireland. Two of the crew were killed and two injured. The aircraft was being flown by Flying Officer Cooper and he attempted a forced-landing, but struck a tree before crashing into a house in Drumavoley Road, Glenxhesk, Ballycastle, which at the time was owned by Charles Blaney. Mr Blaney’s wife and their five children were at home as was a young girl from County Donegal, 22 year old Josephine McGroarty, who was staying there at the time. She was standing outside the house with her boyfriend John Greer from Ballycastle. John was thrown clear as the aircraft came sliding into a fatal impact with the house. Josephine McGroarty was tragically killed as were two of those on board the aircraft. One of these was a high-ranking free-Polish officer, Wing Commander Heller, who was based at Jurby in the Isle of Man. The pilot, Flying Officer Cooper, was thrown from the aircraft and he landed in the children’s room, none of whom miraculously were injured, nor were the Blaneys themselves. Wing Commander Heller was later buried in Movilla cemetery, Newtownards, Co Down. The Pilot who survived the crash, later stated; “On the last leg of the exercise, the aircraft was flying at 2,400 feet. It was however eleven miles to the starboard of track, a fact not known to the crew. I decided to descend to 2,000 feet to avoid another aircraft. We approached from the downwind side of the mountain, and the wind was 150 degrees at 35/40 kms per hour. There would have been an extensively strong down draft as we approached the mountainside. After the aircraft struck Knockgavd, SOS procedures were carried out and preparations were made for a ditching.”
Crew:
F/O J. G. Cooper, pilot,
W/Cdr W. R. Heiler, navigator, †
F/Lt J. H. Dunn, navigator,
W/O E. G. Clarke, wireless operator and air gunner. †
Source:
http://www.secondworldwarni.org/details.aspx?id=2&pagerecordid=1079&themeid=2

Crashed in unknown circumstances on a hill located in Ballinamallard, northeast of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. Eight crew members were killed while two others were injured.
Crew (131st OTU):
S/L Patrick George Cooper, †
F/O David Leigh Sproule, †
F/O Frank Herbert Grainger, †
Sgt John Harvey Hodgson, †
Sgt James Millard Allen, †
Sgt Valentine Hinton Louis, †
W/O Gerald Frederick Hardy, †
F/Sgt Donald Mudd, †
Sgt J. Green,
Sgt R. F. Middaugh.

After touchdown at RAF Finningley, the aircraft was unable to stop within the remaining runway, overran and came to rest in a ravine. There were no casualties. Crew from the 271st Squadron.

The aircraft took off on a training flight from RAF Millom, Cumberland. At Whitehaven, about 30 miles to the north, the plane suffered structural failure leading to a crash and the loss of all five aircrew. It was subsequently found that there was an inherent defect in the structure, which would have been undetectable beforehand, and all similar aircraft were grounded for a time until reinforcement work was carried out to prevent a recurrence.
Crew (2nd AFU):
F/O Henry Joseph O’Gara,
Sgt Vincent James Dunnigan,
Sgt Thomas Inman,
Sgt Cyril Johnson,
Sgt Rene Harold Murphy.
Source: http://2ndww.blogspot.co.uk/2008_09_01_archive.html

The airplane departed Nassau Airport on a local training flight. After takeoff, it caught fire for unknown reasons and dove into the sea, crashing into the Clifton Bay, west of Nassau. All four crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/O Roland Henry Barber, pilot,
F/O Douglas Waitt Whitehurst Cormack, pilot,
F/O Denis Durward, pilot,
F/L John Griffith Owen, pilot.

The crew was performing an air test when the Dakota collided with two balloon cables, one of which completely severed 15 feet of the port main plane. The aircraft crashed at the Bernhard Baron Pavilllion, Regent's Park, London, and was destroyed by fire. There were no survivors among the nine crew members.
Crew:
F/O James Allan Robertson, pilot,
F/O Theodore Myroslaw Hawryluk, copilot,
F/Sgt Henry Edgar Dennis, wireless operator and air gunner,
AC1 Ronald Eric Penn, flight engineer,
AC1 Hugh Richard Phillips, flight engineer,
AC2 Kenneth Thomas Ding,
AC2 Dudley Austin Westcott,
AC2 Ronald Douglas Brown,
LAC Jack Leonard Houghton.
Source:
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?9450-512-Sqn-Dakota-FD899-6-10-1943