Mustang AG663 near Bumper Castle pub, York.
On the evening of 23rd December 1942 the pilot of this Mustang was returning to base at Clifton from a detachment at another station.
It was flying in formation and the aircraft begun landing.
While the pilot of this aircraft was making his landing, he undershot and crashed into a concrete mixer.
the aircraft is believed to have lost power in
its engine on aproach and then crashed into an incomplete section of the runway, onto a section being extended. An engine
fitter, Ron Chapman,
jumped onto a tractor and drove to crash scene where he pulled the badly injured pilot out of the wreckage.
The aircraft was written off, the pilot is believed to have survived although badly injured.
The airfield control was not informed of what time the Mustangs were to be expected, as a result they had no night flying
factilities.
The pilot must have suffered some burns, he was taken to the RAF hospital at Rauceby in Lincolnshire.
Mustang AG663 was built to purchase contract 15471 by North American at Inglewood,Dallas and shipped to the UK arriving in May 1942. It was
issued to 4 Squadron at Clifton in August 1942 and sustained Cat.E2/FA damage at Clifton on 23rd December 1942 as a result of the accident detailed above.
Pilot - F/O Donald A J Draper RAF (112008), injured.
Don Draper had initially served in the Territorial Army, the London Rifle Brigade but transferred to the RAF. He was commissioned on 19th November 1941, almost certainly having
gone through officer training at Cranwell and on the same course were a number of other 4 Squadron pilots - C J R Boyce (112002), L E G Buck (112003), W L M Denny (112007) and
D A Greville-Heygate (112011). He rose to F/O on probation (war subs) on 1st October 1942 and to F/Lt (war subs) on 19th November 1943.
After the incident detailed above he recovered from his injuries and returned to operational flying with 4 Squadron. He survived the War but left the RAF and
became a Chartered Accountant in London. Tattler magazine published a sketch of his before the War ended (shown above). As F/Lt he was awarded the DFC (Gazetted on 26th January 1945) for service with 4 Squadron.
He was appointed to the RAFVR as F/O on 19th August 1947 and on 28th November 1947 he was awarded the
Efficiency Medal (Territorial), "having completed the qualifying period whilst serving with the Royal Air Force" for his
TA service. He rose to F/Lt on 1st March 1951 (with seniority back dated to 19th August 1947, the date he joined the Reserve). It seems likely that he left
the Reserve in August 1960, the last mention of him in the London Gazette was in August 1955 when he extended his service by five years.
Don Draper was with 4 Squadron when Domonie Z7263 crashed at Doncaster in April 1942. He knew the family of one of the crew, P/O Boyce, having gone through training and later operational flying with him
He was given the responsibility of collecting and returning the body of P/O Boyce to his family in London.
My thanks to Sally-Anne
Heygate for this sketch and additional information she has kindly been able to provide.
