Oxford R6269 at Leconfield airfield.
At 15.00hrs on 5th May 1942 this 15 (P)A.F.U. aircraft was attempting to take off from Leconfield airfield in a reasonably strong wind when the aircraft drifted to port and left the runway, the pilot attempted to correct the drift by reducing power on the port engine. This checked the swing but the aircraft had ran onto the grass. The pilot then continued with the take off, applied full power to the engines but stated that the starboard engine appeared to not give full power, this caused the aircraft to again swing. The aircraft became airborne then immediately after getting into the air the starboard wing struck a sappling tree and the camouflaged boundary hedge, the wing dropped and it stalled into the ground. The pilot was slightly injured.
Pilot (instructor) - P/O John Norman Roberts RAF (47478). Injured.
Pilot (pupil) - Sgt J Ogden RAFVR (1078799). Uninjured.
Passenger (ground crew) - Name unknown.
Oxford R6269 was built to contract B203356/39 by De Havilland Ltd at Hatfield and was taken on charge by No.3 S.F.T.S. at South Cerney on 7th June 1940. On 29th April 1941 it was transferred to 15 S.F.T.S. at Kidlington who then moved to Leconfield on 4th February 1942. On 1st March 1942 the unit was redesignated No.15 (P) A.F.U.. There is no mention of the incident on 5th May 1942 at Leconfield in the published Air Britain history of the aircraft but the AM Form 765c for the incident states it was assessed as Cat.B/FA. This almost certainly saw it taken away for a repair in works but where and how long this took is not known. On 22th March 1944 the aircraft was transferred to 3 F.I.S. at Lulsgate Bottom and remained with this unit until 18th July 1945 when the unit disbanded. It was then flown into MU store and remained there until 27th August 1946 when it was sold to Airspeed Ltd. On 4th September 1946 the aircraft was sold to Royal Netherland Air Force and was coded "C-28". After this transfer no additional information is known.