On 5th March 1940 this aircraft was seen to be having problems in the Bassenthwaite area with the engine heard mis-firing. At 12.30hrs the pilot selected a grass field and attempted to
force landed near Irton House Farm, Bewaldeth but over-ran the field into a hedge. The undercarriage collapsed and it also possibly overturned and was damaged. The photograph
above was found on the internet and shows K6655 at Gravesend pre-WW2. This aircraft is credited elsewhere as being on the books of 142 Squadron at the time of this mishap near
Keswick. This is not correct, it was only with 142 Squadron between 30th December 1936 and 6th May 1938. At the time of the accident at Bewaldeth it had been in storage with
27 MU at Shawbury but was being ferried to Silloth airfield by a pilot from 1 FPP based at Hucknall.
Pilot - P/O Armstrong (Possibly P/O William Armstrong RAF (41812)).
The general area of the forced landing, as seen from Binsey.
Ade Harris located the crash site in 2013 with permission of the owners of Irton House Farm. The photograph above shows the likely direction the aircraft came in from and the photograph
below shows the area where it is assumed the aircraft came to rest. One piece of pipe was located in this area and would fit with witness descriptions of the the site. My thanks to Ade
Harris for these photographs.
A small piece of hydraulic pipe found at the crash site in 2013.
I have not yet confirmed the pilot's correct identity, however one likely name would be P/O William Armstrong RAF (41812). William
Armstrong was granted a short service commission in the RAF to the rank of Acting P/O on probation on 1st April 1939 and was later graded
as P/O on probation on 23rd October 1939 and confirmed in the rank of P/O on 23rd January 1940. There are a number of gaps in my research of his service in 1939
and 1940 but he may have briefly served with 54 Squadron in 1940. In early to mid 1940 he was serving as a Ferry Pool pilot which is why I link him to the incident
involving Hart K6655 at Bewaldeth. Craig Brandon wrote a series of articles for the 74 Squadron Association magazine which mentioned his posting from 4 FPP to 74 Squadron
on 3rd September 1940 though he may have flown with other Ferry Pilot Pool units before this. He flew with 74 Squadron in the latter stages of the Battle of
Britain being shot down on 14th November 1940 in Spitfire P7836 after destroying two Ju87s. His aircraft crashed near Sandwich and a modern dig of this
aircraft crash site appeared on satellite television. On 18th August 1941 he was posted from 74 Squadron to 57 OTU (probably to instruct) and on 22nd May 1942 from
57 OTU to 43 Squadron. He was promoted to F/O on 23rd October 1940 and later to F/Lt (War subs) on 23rd October 1941. In late 1942 he appears to have been
posted down the ferry pilot route again and was serving in the North Africa theatre. He died on 18th February 1943 serving with the Gibraltar Ferry Pilot Pool
after being killed in a road accident in North Africa. He is buried Dely Ibrahim War Cemetery, Algeria and was still just twenty one years old.
Alternatively the pilot may have been Oliver Eric Armstrong who served in the ATA.
