On 4th June 1937 this 42 Squadron had been flown from Gosport to Filton, Bristol to collect spares hub nuts that were destined for the squadron and were urgently needed to get their new Vildebeest MkIV aircraft airworthy. At 10.45hrs the aircraft left Filton to begin the flight back up to their home airfield of Donibristle and the route to have been taken should have been up the west coast of England but this aircraft flew inland and into the Lake District. Low cloud was covering many of the high peaks and the crew became lost. When the aircraft failed to reach Donibristle the aircraft was recorded as missing and with it believed missing while crossing the Lake District local authorities were contacted and a search operation put underway. The wreckage of the aircraft was eventually found by two walkers on Crinkle Crags, the walkers made their way to Ambleside and contacted the police. This may have been two days later. An aircraft had been heard by a number of people in Langdale before the crash and it was believed that the pilot was lost and had descended to attempt to get a visual fix on landmarks on the ground but had reached the head of the valley before climbing to clear the head wall of the valley. The two airmen were part of a larger group of 42 Squadron personnel that had flown from Donisbristle to Gosport on 30th May 1937 possibly to carry out "Bacchus Trials" but I have not found out what this involved. Almost nothing remains at the crash site today and what does remain is tiny and held in steep and loose scree below the crash site. Over the years a successful recovery of almost all the aircraft wreckage was made from the site but a number of larger items were dumped lower down the fellside where they still remain to today, these items are marked in one of Alfred Wainwright's walking books.
Pilot - Sgt Frank Wilkinson RAF (514400). Aged 25. Buried Lindley Methodist Chapelyard, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Mechanic / Passenger - LAC Alexander Mitchell RAF (506589). Aged 28. Buried Banff Cemetery, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Frank Wilkinson was the son of James and Alice Hannah (nee Threappleton) Wilkinson. While his parents were both born in West Yorkshire and had lived at Lindley, Huddersfield where they had two children, they had emigrated to Montreal, Canada at the time Frank was born. Frank was born at Maisonneuve, Montreal, Canada on 12th March 1912. They then returned to Huddersfield by the time his younger sister was born in 1916. His father served in the Army in WW1 and appears to have enlisted in May 1915 so they were probably all back in Yorkshire by this date. They lived Thornton Lodge, Huddersfield. Frank joined the RAF at the age of 19. He had trained at No.6 Flying Training School during Summer 1936 and had forty hours flying time on the Vildebeest at the time of this accident in the Lake District. He married Edna Ramsden on 20th March 1937 at the Paddock Wesley Methodist Church. His funeral service was held at the same church eleven weeks later. One of the pallbearers, Sgt J Medd, had been a groomsman at his wedding.
Some research is outstanding on this individual but I shall display what I currently have located. Alexander Mitchell was the son of Mr Alex F and Mrs Mitchell and was born at Banff on 9th June 1909. As a young man he served an apprenticeship at a grocer in Banff then joined the RAF at the age of eighteen on 10th August 1927. He served in India for five years then two years at Malta. He married Margaret around 1934 and in 1935 he was posted to serve at Donibristle. He lived at Rosyth prior to his death. His widow later re-married.
A view looking down Langdale from the crash site.
The aircraft struck the rockface at the back of the photograph above.
Some heavier parts of the aircraft were partly recovered from the crash site but abandoned lower down the fellside, these include parts of the undercarriage, part of the engine and some wing struts.
Small fragments located at the crash site in October 2011.
