During the morning of 28th July 1944 this aircraft was being flown on a solo daytime local flying exercise. Fifty five minutes into the flight the aircraft entered cloud and then flew into high ground at 11.00hrs near Stoneside Hill, between Bootle Fell and Swinside Fell; in an area to the east of Bootle. A dig is believed to have taken place at the crash site by a group linked to the former Millom air museum in the 1980s.

Pilot - P/O Frank Louis Dumbleton RAFVR (177685), aged 31, of Southall. Buried Southall (Havelock) Cemetery, Middlesex.

Frank Dumbleton received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 22nd May 1944. I credit "julia&keld" with the grave photograph shown here.

Martinet HP311 was with 10 AGS from new. On 23rd February 1943 it was being flown to allow the pilot to familiarize himself with the aircraft type when he allowed the fuel in the selected tank to run dry. The engine failed so he force landed in Lancashire and the aircraft was slightly damaged, with Cat.B damage being the assessment. It was repaired in works by Phillips and Powis in March 1943 and returned to 10 AGS only to suffer this more serious Cat.E accident on 28th July 1944. The crash site is thought to be on Stoneside Hill which is behind the car in the photograph shown above. I searched this area in 2010 but did not find anything of the aircraft in the area I searched.