Hurricane V7026 on Bridlington Golf Course.
On 18th February 1941 this aircraft took off at 11.39hrs with one other from the same No.1 Squadron RCAF from Driffield so that they could fly to investigate a possible incoming enemy aircraft picked up by electronic early warning systems in place at that time. They were ordered to climb to around 20,000 feet and patrol the area around Bridlington. Thick low cloud was present at a height above 500 feet on this morning with possible icing conditions present for aircraft in the cloud. After taking off both the aircraft climbed to around 2,700 feet and headed towards Bridlington with both aircraft in radio contact with one another. At around 11.45hrs Hurricane V7026 dived into the ground on Bridlington Golf Course and the pilot was killed.
The reason why the crash occurred was never really understood because the aircraft was totally destroyed but the commanding officer of the squadron believed that the aircraft's engine may have cut out prior to the aircraft crashing, based on witness accounts. It was thought that the engine may simply have just failed, or another possible theory that the airspeed indicator had failed making the pilot believe that the airspeed was loosing speed, so in trying to gain speed again he would have pushed the control column forward so that the aircraft would gain speed but it then went into a dive. In this situation it was known that fuel would then be taken away from the carburetor fitted to the engines at this time, with no fuel in the carburetor the engine would cut out. Flying in thick cloud the pilot focused on the airspeed indicator rather than the other instruments that gave the aircraft's position in the sky and when the aircraft broke through the thick cloud there was no height left to try and recover from the dive. The airspeed indicator may have failed because the pitot head heater was not switched on and had iced up. Another suggestion that the pilot may have passed out through lack of oxygen has been suggested.
At the time of this accident No.1 Squadron RCAF were in the process of moving from Driffield airfield from Castletown and although this was not due to take place until the 18th February 1941 they had begun their move eight days earlier and it was infact complete by the 18th. The pilot's body was not buried locally to Driffield airfield as might be expected but was probably retained by 1 RCAF Squadron as they knew they were to be posted out to Digby by the end of February 1941 and he was buried in Lincolnshire. 1 Squadron RCAF was re-named 401 Squadron on 1st March 1941.
Hurricane V7026 was built to contract 85730/40/23a by The Gloster Aircraft Co. Ltd. at Hucclecote and was awaiting collection in December
1940 and was taken on charge by 213 Squadron at Leconfield the same month. On 15th January 1941 it moved with the unit to Driffield. Officially
it transferred to 1 Squadron RCAF on 18th February 1941 and crashed the same day with Cat.E2/FA damage being recorded.
Pilot - F/Lt Joseph Benedict Reynolds RCAF (C/932), aged 27, of Lake Lenore, Saskatchewan, Canada. Buried Scopwick Church Burial Ground, Lincolnshire.
F/Lt Reynolds gravestone at Scopwick Cemetery, near Digby, Lincolnshire (photograph found on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial website).
Joseph Reynolds was born at Annaheim, Saskatchewan, Canada on 18th December 1914 and was the son of Martin Thomas and Catherine (nee Butala) Reynolds. His father was born in Ireland but
moved to Saskatchewan in 1908 to farm, after a spell teaching he returned to farming in 1922 and retired to the West coast of Canada after WW2. Joseph graduated from Campion college, Regina, Saskatchewan and then attended the University of Manitoba where he gained a B.A. He later was employed as an assessor / tax auditor / accountant in the civil service in Regina from 1934 to 1938 before resigning his position to enlist into the RCAF in Regina on 28th November 1938 as an officer. He gained his Wings on 2nd September 1939. He served with 112 (Army Co-Op) Squadron RCAF in Canada and was posted to join 110 (Army Co-Op) Squadron RCAF (possibly in Canada first before they re-located to England in 1940. The date he was posted to 1 Squadron RCAF is not given in his published service file.
His younger brother Bernard Walter Reynolds would enlist into the RCAF in 1940 and after qualifying as a pilot he saw service in Malta. On 10th
July 1942 F/Sgt Bernard Reynold's Spitfire was shot down off Malta and he was reported as missing and is now commemorated on
the Malta Memorial. The Reynolds Peninsula is named in Saskatchewan in honour of both brothers.
