Gladiator K6133 near Gawber, Barnsley.
On 23rd July 1937 this 72 Squadron aircraft was being ferried to Church Fenton airfield from Sealand airfield when it flew into bad weather. In poor visibility and low cloud the pilot became lost, at 17.40hrs the pilot had lost control of the aircraft and it dived into a field near Hermit House Farm, Gawber, Barnsley. The pilot was killed in this accident.
Pilot - P/O Philip Hughes Crompton RAF, aged 26, of Boughton, Chester. Buried Overleigh Cemetery, Chester, Cheshire.
Born on 13th May 1911 at Warrington. As a young man he worked for the Hudson Bay Company in Canada but had returned to England by 1936. After learning to fly at the Liverpool and District Aero Club he was awarded a Royal Aero Club Aviators’ Certificate on the 25th May 1936 (Cert.No.?)
he was granted a commission in the RAF to the rank of Acting P/O on probation in the RAF on 7th September 1936 and was posted to 2 F.T.S. at Digby on 19th September 1936. He was later was posted to 72 Squadron on 22nd May 1937 who were based at Tangmere at that date. 72 Squadron then moved to Church Fenton on 1st June 1937.