Oxford P8828 near Morcar, Fountains Abbey.
On 9th October 1940 the pilot of this aircraft was undertaking a night time training flight with the Royal Air Force College from Cranwell in Lincolnshire when he became lost. It is not yet known as to why he ended up in North Yorkshire as he was meant to be undertaking a simple solo circuits and landings training flight and usually this kept the aircraft within a few miles of their parent airfields. After a failed attempt to contact the ground he begun circling and was trying to simply wait until dawn and land. While circling the aircraft's wing clipped a tree on high ground at around 05.00hrs and the aircraft then struck a hedge when the pilot attempted to force land. The aircraft suffered severe damage. The precise location is not known other than in the region of six miles west of Ripon on land near Morcar Grange / Morcar House, just south of Fountains Abbey. The incident is recorded in the No.386 Search Light Battery war diary with the time recorded as 05.25hrs.
Pilot - Sgt James Quinn RAF (968367). Minor injuries.
It is believed that he was awarded the Bar to the DFC though no details of this are known. He survived the War and remained in the RAF, he was made F/Lt (permanent)
on 1st September 1945 and rose to S/Ldr on 1st January 1949 and W/Co on 1st July 1955. Oddly the RAF AM Form 1180 lists his rank as being LAC though this is unlikely
to be correct. The rank of Sgt is more likely to be correct.
James Quinn was born in June 1919 and joined the RAF in September 1939. He recovered from his injuries and completed his pilot training but it appears that he
did not complete his officer training at Cranwell though he would still rise through the ranks to become a high ranking officer. Upon qualifying as a pilot he was
posted to 236 Squadron in the latter stages of the Battle of Britain. As a F/Sgt he was awarded his commission on 28th December 1941 to the rank of P/O on probation
(emergency) in the RAFVR. He rose to F/O on probation (war subs) on 1st October 1942 and F/Lt (war subs) on 28th December 1943. He would fly with 204 Squadron and
222 Squadron during the War and was awarded the DFC for service with 204 Squadron, Gazetted on 1st September 1942 and the Bar to the DFC for service with 222
Squadron, Gazetted on 25th August 1944. The citation for the latter reads.. "This officer piloted an aircraft which successfully attacked a U-boat: In spite,
of heavy opposing fire, Flight Lieutenant Quinn pressed home his attack. After the explosion of the depth charges the submarine was.seen to be out of control whilst
the fore casing was completely under water. Flight Lieutenant Quinn displayed a high standard of skill and courage throughout the fight."
Oxford P8828 was built to contract 777546/38 by Airspeed (1934) Ltd, at Portsmouth and was awaiting collection in March 1940 and was allocated to 5 FTS at
Sealand on 2nd April 1940 but this unit was not officially formed until 26th April 1940 so the aircraft was taken on charge by the RAFC at Cranwell on 5th April
1940. It sustained Cat.W/FA damage following the accident near Ripon as recorded above although the Am1180 suggests it was considered for repair.