Beaufighter T5259 near Kirkburn.

On 10th October 1942 this No.2 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit aircraft took off from Driffield airfield but just as it crossed the airfield boundary and at twenty feet about the ground the starboard engine cut out. The pilot attempted to continue to climb but was unable to prevent it turning to starboard. Having climbed to around 200 feet the starboard wing dropped, the aircraft stalled, it rolled on to its back and dived into the ground at 11.25hrs around a mile north of Kirkburn sadly killing the pilot. It was thought that the pilot was attempting to turn the aircraft back toward the airfield when the stall occurred.

Pilot - Sgt Robert Adair Strang RAFVR (656403), aged 21. Buried Eastwood Cemetery, Glasgow.

Beaufighter T5259 was built to contract B.41906/39 by the Fairey Aviation Co. Ltd. at Heaton Chapel and was delivered directly to 2 (c)OTU in early October 1942. It was destroyed in the crash on 10th October 1942 after which Cat.E2/FA damage was the damage assessment.
P/O Reginald Charles Fourniss RAFVR (103746) is quoted elsewhere on the internet as being in Beaufighter T5259 when it crashed near Driffield, however, this cannot be correct as his death was registered in Leicester which means he died in that area.

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