On 27th September 1942 trainee pilot of this aircraft was undertaking a navigation exercise with 15 (P)AFU when he became lost in poor weather and crashed. Although the unit's parent airfield was Leconfield it is believed that he had taken off from Kirmington at 08.40hrs. The route was to have been from base to Worksop, Kettering, Boston and back to base. He decended to work out his position and was probably attempting a forced land the aircraft but hit a tree and dived into the ground at 09.22hrs near South Anston and was killed. The Court of Inquiry found the pilot was responsible for decending below a safe height but also blamed his superiors for allowing the flight when poor weather had been reported which stated that there were extensive fog patches over part of the route.
Pilot - Sgt Grahame Hilton Clothier RAAF (411865), aged 20, of Hazelbrook, New South Wales, Australia. Buried Rose Hill Cemetery, Doncaster, Yorkshire.
Oxford R6081 was built to contract B.19646/39 by Airspeed Ltd. at Portsmouth and was awaiting collection in July 1940. It was initially placed in MU storage until 16th January 1941 when it was taken on charge by 1 P.F.T.S. at Hucknall. On 9th June 1941 this unit was re-designated 16 P.F.T.S. On 7th June 1942 it was transferred to 15 (P)AFU at Leconfield and as a result of the crash near South Anston on 27th September 1942 the damage was assessed as being Cat.E2/FA after which it was written off.
Grahame Clothier was born on 29th April 1922 in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia. He attended schools in Canberra and was working in the Department of the Interior when he enlisted into the RAAF on 21st June 1941 in Sydney. He had two brothers who fought in WW2 and survived. The photograph of him shown above was found on the website "www.memorial.act.gov.au".