Blackburn B.2 G-ACBH near Broomfleet, Brough.
The details regarding this incident are vague but on 16th March 1940 this aircraft crashed near Broomfleet, some four miles west of Brough. The pilot died of
his injuries two days later in Hull Royal Infirmary and in his inquest details of the accident were given; the aircraft made a banking turn at low altitude but
nose-dived into a field. Although a civilian registered aircraft it was being operated by No.4 Elementary Flying Training School based at Brough.
Instructor Pilot - Sgt Robert Campbell Duff RAFVR (740368), aged 26, of Broughty Ferry, Dundee. Buried Barnhill Cemetery, Angus. Died 18th March 1940.
Passenger - Sgt Edward Albert Jay RAFVR (745611). Injured.
Robert Duff was born on 24th September 1913 at Broughty Ferry and was educated at Dundee High School. Prior to enlisting into the RAFVR he was worked
locally at the Monifieth Foundary. He joined the RAFVR before the start of the War and attended flying training at Perth on weekends. He is buried in
Barnhill Cemetery located between Monifieth and Broughty Ferry. The CWGC list his age as being 41 not 26 given in a local newspaper report just after his death.
Edward Jay was born on 24th September 1916 in Cliff, Kent. He was awarded a Royal Aero Club aviator certificate (Cert.No.17159) on 20th February 1939 following training at the Southend Flying Club. Though he may have been flying earlier in the 1930s. He later received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation (emergency) on 24th April 1944 (178281) from the rank of Warrant Officer. He was later promoted to F/O (war subs) on 24th October 1944 and to F/Lt (war subs) on 24th April 1946. I thank his son Mr Ed Jay for contacting me in June
2013 and for kindly supplying much of the information and the photographs of the airmen shown on this webpage.
The Air Britain published records state that some time later it was transported by road to the Brentwood Institute, Essex, for use by 692 Squadron ATC. What the Brentwood Institute was is not known and I would welcome contact from anyone who can answer this question. This may have been why and when it became an instructional airframe. The aircraft later appears photographed in a tree in Dixon's Scrapyard at Ramsden Heath, Essex, the photograph was later published in Ken Ellis' book "Wrecks and Relics" 1st Edition. Here it remained as a fuselage minus the engine until 1984, when it was purchased and placed into storage at a farm in Essex. It was offered for sale on Ebay in 2012 and is currently on display at Aeroventure, Doncaster.
G-ACBH was built by The Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company Ltd at Brough. The civilian registration history for the aeroplane is rather complicated, it appears to have been first registered to The North Sea Aerial and General Transport Company Ltd. at Brough on 1st December 1932 but it appears to have not been completed by this date so this is probably an error. The first prototype B.2 first flew on 10th December 1932 and was not G-ACBH. G-ACBH was the third production aircraft so it probably flew early in 1933. The CAA however list it being registered to Blackburn Aircraft Ltd. on 9th December 1936 with no other users before this date. It is more likely that it was used by The North Sea Aerial and General Transport Company Ltd. with their flying school at Brough until this became 4 E. and R.F.T.S. in 1935 and the aircraft continued to be operated by them. No.4 E. & R.F.T.S. was taken over by Blackburn Aircraft Ltd in April 1936 and it was used by them. It is next recorded as sustaining repairable damage on an unspecified date in 1938 when it collided on the ground with another unidentified Blackburn B.2 at Brough, taxying without brakes. It sustained damage to it's lower wing and was repaired on site by Blackburn's and was returned to the flying school. No.4 E&RFTS was re-designated 4 E.F.T.S. in the early weeks of the War, probably on 3rd September 1939 although the 15th October 1939 is also quoted elsewhere. On 6th March 1940 it crashed near Broomfleet and one of the then crew died of his injuries. The wreckage was recovered to
Brough where, over a twelve month period, the aircraft was rebuilt using parts of B.2 G-ADFO that had crashed at Newport, near Brough on 3rd September 1940. The rebuilt aircraft was then impressed by the Air Ministry, with the military paperwork giving the date when this was made as 14th July 1942. It was later converted into instructional airframe 2895M.
