Botha L6205 near Ellerker, Brough.
On the 8th of July 1940 this aircraft had just been built at Brough and was being test
flown around the area of Brough airfield when it entered a spin from
which the pilot was unable to recover. The aircraft crashed into an oat field at 17.45hrs
close to Sands Land, Ellerker and sadly the civilian test-pilot was killed. Wreckage
was reported to have been spread over three hundred yards in a Civil Defence report sourced.
There are unconfirmed reports that the aircraft had suffered sabotage.
Pilot - Mr Douglas F C Brecknell, of Clifton, Bristol. Killed.
On 18th June 1934 Douglas Brecknell was the pilot of a four passenger D.H.83 Fox Moth G-ABYO
which was registered to Norman Edgar at Bristol Airport, Whitchurch, Bristol. R06.35. with a pilot for the
trip to Glasgow and back. It was on approach to Five Lanes, near Llanvair Discoed where there was presumably a landing ground.
civilian aircraft crashed near Llanvair Discoed, Wales whilst on a flight from
Llanvair, near Caerwent to Scotland. There were two passengers from Caldicot Tin Stamping Works on board
who were being flown by him on a buisness trip to Glasgow when the aircraft
was seen to dive into the ground at catch fire near Llanvair Discoed.
Mr Brecknell was thrown out of the aircraft on impact but the two passengers
remained trapped, he rescued the two passengers (although one later died of his injuries)
before a number of witnesses arrived at the crash site.
He then continued civilian flying and passed an examination for his Second Class Civil Air
Navigator licence in January 1936. In 1938 he begun working as a pilot for Jersey Airways
Ltd flying their fleet of DH86's.
His brother Mervyn St.John Brecknell served in the The South Lancashire Regiment
(The Prince of Wales's Volunteers) during the War and was granted the rank of Hon. Major in 1946.
Douglas Brecknell was born in 1907 in Bristol and had served in the RAF in its early years.
He received his commission to P/O on probation on 21st June 1927 (into the Reserve of Air Force
Officers) and was confirmed in the rank of P/O on 8th June 1928. He rose to F/O on 8th December 1928 but cannot
have remained in military flying for long, as by 1934 he was a civilian pilot.