On 20th January 1943 the crew in this Beaufighter were undertaking a navigation training exercise with No.2 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit when the aircraft flew into high ground in poor visibility in the Westerdale area at 12.30hrs. The flight had lasted just over two and a half hours with some of the exercise being carried out over the sea. It was thought that the radio had stopped working and that their position had been incorrectly plotted on crossing the coastline. Just prior to the crash it was thought that the aircraft had descended through cloud so the crew could try and regain their position with the pilot probably thinking he was over lower ground nearer East Yorkshire. The aircraft struck the high ground and caught fire and sadly both airmen were killed. The crash site has yet to be located when this webpage was last updated.
Beaufighter T5299 was built to contract B41906/39 by the Fairey Aviation Company Ltd. at Heaton Chapel, Stockport. It was delivered to 27 MU at Shawbury on 17th October 1942 and was taken on charge by No.2 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit on 7th November 1942. Following the crash at Westerdale on 20th January 1943, Cat.E2/FA(Burnt) damage was the damage assessment and it was struck off charge. It had clocked up 69 flying hours from new.
Pilot - Sgt Kenneth Plumtree RAFVR (1148810), aged 22. Buried Ordsall Churchyard, Nottinghamshire.
Navigator / Radar Operator - Sgt Vivian Robin Day RAFVR (1318791), aged 21. Buried Alderton Churchyard, Glocestershire.
Kenneth Plumtree was born on 30th November 1920 and was the son of Walter Oxley and Elizabeth Plumtree. He enlisted for RAF service on 24th March 1941. His parents lived at Little Biggins Farm, Ordsall, Retford at the time of his death. The photograph of his grave in Nottinghamshire was kindly supplied by Mr Tony Glover.
Vivian Day was born on 22nd October 1921 and was the son of Maurice Victor and Marjorie Lewes Day, of Alderton, Gloucestershire. He had previously served in the Alderton Platoon, 1st Gloucestershire, Home Guard, prior to enlisting for RAF service on 19th May 1941. He in buried in the village churchyard where he lived at Alderton, Gloucestershire (photographed by me).
I have located the crash site of Beaufighter T5299 but during terrible weather in early 2024 and I have not had chance to return to photograph it. This may well be the first time the site has been located and visited in the last fifty years. Because people use my webpages to visit and then take things from sites to sell on auction websites, I am being very cautious in identifying where it crashed. The photograph above shows the general area of the crash, a very beautiful corner of the world.
Two fragments in poor condition but both show part identification numbers.
