On 10th October 1942 this aircraft was being flown by an ATA pilot to Dishforth on the delivery flight so the aircraft could join No.1472 Flight, it landed at Dishforth at 13.15hrs with it's undercarriage retracted and was slightly damaged. Tomahawk AH806 was to have been a replacement aircraft for Tomahawk AH884 that had been damaged by 1472 Flight four days previously.
Pilot - S/O Harold James Whitfield Collins ATA (M.552).
The unit is given as being 1472 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Flight in pretty much every modern reference to this number unit that I can find. The 1472 Flight record book gives the unit title as being 1472 (D-B) Flight, or 1472 (Dive-Bombing) Flight. Which is correct is anyone's guess. As the scribe of the orb was there at the time I'm leaning towards 1472 (D-B) Flight being correct.
Tomahawk AH806 was built to B.P.C. Contract A-84 by the Curtiss Wright Corporation at Buffalo, New York, USA and was delivered by ship to Liverpool, arriving in April 1941. It was then transported by road to No. 1 A.A.U. at Speke for assembly and testing. On an unknown date in 1941 it was taken on charge by 400 Squadron at Odiham and moved with them to Gatwick on 19th May 1942 and back to Odiham on 30th May 1942. It was placed into MU storage with it being with 29 M.U. at High Ercall until collection by this ATA pilot in October 1942. It was being delivered to 1472 Flight at Dishforth on 10th October 1942 but was probably not taken on charge by 1472 Flight as it was damaged before it came into the their care. As a result of the accident on the delivery flight on 10th October 1942 repairable Cat.B/FA damage was the initial assessment and it was transported by road to Western Airways Ltd. at Weston-super-Mare for repair but no work appears to have been carried out. It probably did not hang about their in an un-repaired state for nearly two years but on the paperwork it is listed as being re-assessed and Re-Cat.E on 24th August 1944, after which it was struck off charge. This might be the date when the paperwork caught up with the fate of the aircraft and it may have been written off well before this.
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