Spitfire K9843 at Catterick airfield.
On 30th November 1939 the pilot of this 41 Squadron aircraft lost control on landing at Catterick, he was inexperienced and was attempting to land the aircraft on his second approach but came down too hard at 12.00hrs and onto soft ground. The aircraft tipped up onto its nose. It was the pilot's second crash in less than an hour.
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 March 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 K9843 was built to contract 527113/36 by Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) Ltd at Woolston and was first test flown on 12th January 1939, it was then delivered to 41 Squadron
at Catterick on 4th February 1939 and coded "DL-H". The code was changed to "EB-H" on outbreak of WW2. It went to Wick with the Unit on 19th October 1939 and returned to
Catterick on 25th October 1939. Following this incident above Cat.R/FA damage was recorded, it was removed to AST Ltd at Hamble for repair on 10th December 1939.
The aircrafts history from here is not clear. It may have been repaired and sent to 54 Squadron and struck off charge on 18th July 1942 only to be
converted to an instructional airframe and possibly given the code to 3229M. Problem being 3229M was also the instructional code given to K9943 in the records.