On 19th May 1937 this No.9 Flying Training School Audax landed heavily at Thornaby and the undercarriage collapsed.
Pilot - P/O John Wingfield Fordham RAF (33247), of Woking, Surrey.
John Fordham trained at Cranwell in 1936 and passed out in the summer months, he received a permanent commission to the rank
of P/O on 1st August 1936. He rose to F/O on 1st February 1938. On 1st January 1941 he was Mentioned in Despatches and rose to F/Lt on
1st February 1940 and S/Ldr (temp) on 1st March 1941. John Fordham was killed on 5th March 1941 while serving with 247 Squadron. He was twenty four years old and is buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery. His rank as listed on the CWGC database is F/Lt, not S/Ldr.
Audax K5270 was built to contract 389427/35 by A.V. Roe Ltd at Chadderton and was delivered to 9 FTS on 30th June 1936. It sustained
Cat.R/FA damage in the incident detailed briefly above and after repair it was returned to service only to suffer a further Cat.R/FA
mishap on 25th October 1940. The wreckage was taken to 30 MU on 25th November 1940 for assessment and struck off charge on
6th December 1940. It's identity is also quoted as being K5170 but this is believed incorrect.
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