During the evening of the 18th October 1943 the pilot of this aircraft was one of a number that took off from Wheaton Aston airfield for his first solo night cross country navigation exercise. During the flight the weather deteriorated and the flying control at 21 (P)AFU recalled all the aircraft from their unit that were undertaking the exercise. The pilot of this aircraft did not make contact to say he had received the message and nothing more was heard from him. Five days later the wreckage of the crashed Oxford and the body of the pilot were found on an artillery range on the hills above Langsett in the Peak District. The crash site, in the Featherbed Moss area of Margery Hill, west of Stocksbridge, took some time to clear by a team from 60 M.U. because of the remoteness and because the artillery range was in constant use. Alan Clark's website gives the best account of this incident I have come across and I do not wish to simply copy his work. Ron Collier's "Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks" book also gives an excellent account of the incident.
Pilot - P/O Denis Patrick Kyne RNZAF (NZ421380), aged 22, of Timaru, Canterbury, New Zealand. Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery, Yorkshire (C/D/6).
Denis Kyne's grave at Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery.