During the evening of 18th August 1943 the crew of this No.2 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit aircraft were detailed to undertake a training exercise from Catfoss airfield. The engines were started at 21.00hrs but the crew were not given permission to take off for some time and the engines were left running. At 21.25hrs the crew were finally given permission to take off. While it became airborne the port engine then cut out as it left the ground. The pilot managed to climb the aircraft to around 100 feet above the ground but was unable to keep flying straight. He reduced power, lowered the flaps and force landed straight ahead at the Brandesburton side of the airfield. A fire immediately broke out in the aircraft. The pilot managed to free the navigator who's leg had become trapped, and both men left the aircraft with the pilot suffering superficial burns. The aircraft had been left with the engines running for too long prior to taking off with the pilot having received instructions to not attempt to take off if the engine temperatures exceeded 210 degrees. He stated the gauge showed 250 degrees when he attempted to take off. He was held responsible for the incident but also commended for his actions in freeing his trapped navigator who would have died had he not done so.
Pilot - P/O John Norman Punshon RCAF (J/14844). Injured.
Navigator - Sgt John Edward Meyrick RAFVR (917863). Injured.
John Meyrick was born on 29th October 1912 at St.Barnadas, London and was the son of Gerard Vincent and Eleanor May (nee Ward) Meyrick. He married Dorothy June Lashbrook in 1936 and enlisted for RAF service on 11th March 1940. He received a commission in 1944, continued his RAF service well into the 1950s and died in 1999 at Gravesend, Kent.