Hurricane LE262 on Flat Fell, Cleator Moor.

On 26th October 1943 this aircraft took off from Silloth airfield, where it had been either stored or used by 22 M.U., it was to be ferried to High Ercall airfield to the care of 222 M.U. It was being flown by a pilot belonging to No.3 Ferry Pilot Pool. My details surrounding this incident are pretty vague, it appears to have flown into bad weather not long after setting out to fly down the west coast but stalled over the hills to the east of Cleator Moor and crashed in the region of Flat Fell at 15.00hrs. Sadly the pilot was killed in the accident.

Pilot - P/O Maurice Gaston Emile Coutanceau RAFVR (158024), aged 23. Parents of Mauritius. Buried Upminster Churchyard, Essex. (1st Officer ATA).

Maurice Coutanceau was the son of Jean Leon Maurice and Madeleine Jeanne Coutanceau (nee Goiran), of Rose Hill, Mauritius. On 28th June 1942 he was training with 19 OTU and taxying Whitley K9038 at Kinloss when the tail wheel collapsed. He was granted a commission in the RAFVR to the rank of P/O on probation on 1st September 1943 seconded to the ATA he was serving as a ferry pilot at the time of his death in October 1943. He was buried where his wife lived in Upminster.
The location of where this incident occurred has not yet been found. If you can assist please contact me HERE. Thank you.

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