Blenheim L6835 near North Milford.
On 13th March 1941 the crew of this 54 Operational Training Unit aircraft was undertaking a local training flight and had taken off from Church Fenton airfield at 00.30hrs. At 01.15hrs the aircraft sustained damage after being attacked by another aircraft. The pilot was able to crash land the aircraft near North Milford Grange, on the west side of the airfield with the port engine and the aircraft's tail on fire. While the crew escaped the aircraft, the fire developed on the ground and badly damaged the aircraft. A claim for shooting down this Blenheim was later recorded by Luftwaffe intruder pilot Fw. Hans Hahn, he had claimed a number of other Allied aircraft in similiar circumstances in the War. He claimed this aircraft as being damaged over Leeming however but the times match. There is also a suggestion elsewhere that L6835 may have been shot down by so-called "friendly" fire by an Allied aircraft but this seems unlikely as there is a combat report from the probable pilot involved who states that he attacked the enemy aeroplane that he just shot down this Blenheim. Given Fw.Hahn's claim exists and there were no aircraft damaged around Leeming on this date the latter friendly-fire incident would seem unlikely.
Pilot - P/O Matthew Gordon Calvert RAF (60065).
Air Gunner - Sgt Fernleigh William Mutton RAFVR (1187659). Slightly injured.
Historians Eric Barton, Albert Pritchard and Ken Reast spent many days in the Church Fenton area during the 1990s and early 2000s speaking to local people and land owners about the many flying accidents in the general area of the airfield. Following a field walk they located small fragments in the field where this aircraft crash landed with permission from the landowner in January 2005. Some years prior to their visit a propeller was recovered from the site and was held locally. This propeller may be from the port engine as it was clearly stopped at the time of the crash and also shows damage to the tip, shown below with Albert (left) and Ken (centre) for scale.
Small fragments of this aeroplane that Eric Barton retained following his visit to the crash site, these items were passed to me in 2022 to rehome.
Matthew Calvert was almost certainly born in Halifax, Yorkshire in 1915. He received a commission on 30th December 1940 to the rank of P/O on
probation (with seniority back-dated to 6th December 1940), he was promoted to F/O a year later and to F/Lt on 30th December 1942 (again with seniority
back to 6th December 1942). He remained in the RAF post-War and on 10th January 1949 he resigned his Commission but retained the rank of Flight Lieutenant.
Fernleigh Mutton appears to have been from the Princetown area of Devon. By June 1942 he was serving with 11 Operational Training Unit, though may have flown operationally before this and was either staff air gunner or an instructor there. On 26th June 1942 11 Operational Training Unit. supplied aircraft for the 1000 Bomber raid on Bremen and he flew as rear gunner in Wellington DV778, the aircraft failed to
return and is presumed to have crashed in the North Sea. His body was recovered and buried in Sage War Cemetery, Germany. He was twenty eight years old.
Blenheim L6835 was built to contract 588371/36 by A.V.Roe and Co. Ltd. at Chadderton and was awaiting collection in March 1940. After a short period of MU storage it was taken on charge by the F.I.U. at Tangmere soon after the unit formed on 18th April 1940. On 18th August 1940 the unit moved to Shoreham. The aircraft was returned to storage on an unknown date and was later taken on charge (probably) soon after 25th November 1940 by the newly formed 54 Operational Training Unit at Church Fenton. Cat.E/FB damage was the damage assessment that resulted from the incident near North Milford on 13th March 1941 and the aircraft was struck off charge.