Around the time of this accident 601 Squadron were converting to the newer Hurricane MkII and were exchanging their older MkI Hurricanes for newer MkII's. On 31st March 1941 at least two of these older Hurricanes were being flown from Northolt airfield up to Crosby on Eden airfield near Carlisle where they were to exchange them for newer Hurricanes and then return to Northolt with the new aircraft. As they neared Carlisle the aircraft entered a snowstorm which reduced visibility, it is not known how many aircraft were being flown to Crosby on Eden but two of the aircraft flew across the Lake District and crashed in poor visibility. One aircraft crashed near Keswick and that incident is detailed on it's own webpage. The other crashed near Glenridding killing the pilot and the aircraft was completely destroyed.
Pilot - P/O Thomas Charles Smith RAF (61251), aged 29, of Nottingham. Cremated Nottingham (Panel 5).
I visited the crash site in November 2011 and very little remains at the site today, it is very close to a good access road and it must have been easy for the RAF to recover much of the wreckage at the time and similarly by interested people in the seventy years since the crash.
A collection of small fragments of the aircraft at the crash site.
There is a suggestion by one local historian that this aircraft had crashed on the fell top and simply over turned leaving the aircraft relatively undamaged to be taken away and re-built as a Sea Hurricane. Given what is still at the crash site shows the evidence of more serious damage I would suggest that this is an error. The finds of once molten globules of alluminium would seem to suggest an intense fire at the crash site and combining these finds with the fragments of .303 bullet cases I suggest that the aircraft was completely destroyed.
Thomas Smith received his commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 20th January 1941 (with seniority back dated to 14th January 1941). Nothing more is known about him.
