Spitfire K9839 at Catterick Airfield.
On 30th November 1939 this very inexperienced 41 Squadron pilot was on his first solo flight and he held off too high for a landing, he then hit the ground hard and burst a tyre, damaged both wingtips and an oleo leg at 11:05hrs. He was back in the air within the hour and almost certainly on his next landing he crashed Spitfire K9843 (detailed on this website). The damage sustained must have been very minor as it does not come to light in the aircraft's history.
Pilot - Sgt Reginald Thomas Llewellyn RAF (565271).
He received his commission in November 1941 but did not fly again for some time after his injuries during the Battle of Britain.
By the end of the War he had commanded seven fighter squadrons reaching the rank of S/Ldr. His obituary posted online stated that
he was awarded the DFC in 1945 however there is no record of this in the London Gazette or referred to after his name on any further
references to him in the London Gazette. Post War he remained in the RAF and trained to fly Meteors, he left the RAF in 1957 and
then worked for the USAF for three years. In 1984 he and his wife migrated to Tasmania, Australia where he died in 2000.
Reginald Llewellyn was born in Bristol in 1914. He joined the RAF in 1931 aged 16 and served in Iraq from 1934 to 1937, he later flew as an Air Gunner in the North West Frontier of India in 1938 with 27 Squadron before returning to the UK and training as a pilot. After pilot training he initially joined 263 Squadron in October 1939 but must have been posted to 41
Squadron soon afterwards, the unit he was with at the time of this mishap at Catterick. Following this and his second accident
of the day at Catterick he was posted away for further training. He was later posted to 213 Squadron and during the Battle of Britain
was credited with a number of enemy aircraft as shot down. He was later awarded the DFM, Gazetted on 22nd October 1940 but his arm
was seriously injured baling out after combat on 15th September 1940, by the time his DFM was printed in the London Gazette he was
already in hospital. The citation for his DFM reads.."In numerous engagements in Belgium, Northern France, and later in England he
has displayed great courage and devotion to duty, and has destroyed 12 enemy aircraft."
Spitfire K9839 was built to contract 527113/36 by Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) Ltd at Woolston and was delivered to 41 Squadron at Catterick on 11th January 1939. It moved with the unit to Wick 19th October 1939 and back to Catterick on 15th October 1939. The damage sustained in the incident above must have been only very minor, probably Cat.M/FA and it was repaired on site and returned to the unit. It then transferred to 602 Squadron who were based at Drem on 22nd January 1940, it then moved with the unit to Dyce on 14th April 1940 and again back to Drem on 28th May 1940 before a move to Westhampnett on 13th August 1940 with 602 Squadron. It suffered unspecified minor damage and was flown to AST Ltd (Air Service Training Ltd) at Hamble for a quick repair in August 1940. The aircraft was returned to 602 Squadron at Westhampnett on 29th August 1940. It then suffered a Cat.R/FB incident on 7th September 1940 when it was damaged by return fire from a Dornier Do17 and the pilot (P/O Aries) made a crash landing at Wrotham, Kent. After this incident it was dismantled by Heston Aircraft Ltd and removed from the site to Heston on 12th September 1940. It was transported to Scottish Aviation Ltd at Greenock on 27th September 1940 for repair and on completion of the repair it was flown to 45 MU at Kinloss (ASU) on 4th January 1941 before being issued to 58 OTU at Grangemouth on 23rd March 1941. It then went to 63 MU at Carluke on 8th January 1942 and it became ground instructional airframe, number 2868M.