Beaufort L9884 near Little Fenton.
On 9th March 1943 this aircraft was on the approach to land at Sherburn in Elmet airfield when both engines began to fail and restart intermittently. The pilot could not control the running of the engines and could also not reach Sherburn so made a forced landing in a field near Wall Farm, Little Fenton with the wheels up. The aircraft was probably on a delivery flight to 51 O.T.U. at the time of the incident and was almost certainly in the hands of 7 F.P.P., ATA at the time of the accident.
Pilot - F/O Edgar Bernard Harold Hall ATA.
Air historians Albert Pritchard, Eric Barton and Ken Reast located small fragments on the surface at the crash site in August 2003 with permission from the landowner, confirming the crash location.
Beaufort L9884 was built to contract 552916/36 by the Bristol Aeroplane Company Ltd. at Filton and was awaiting collection in May 1940. It was initially placed in MU store before being taken on charge by the Torpedo Training Unit (T.T.U.) at Abbotsinch on an unknown date. This unit moved to Turnberry on 14th November 1942 but on 1st January 1943 was absorbed into No.1 T.T.U. also based at Turnberry. On 10th March 1943 No.1 T.T.U. moved to Limavady and was renamed Torpedo Training Flight but no Beaufort aircraft were on charge by that date. No.1 T.T.U. dispersed it's Beaufort aircraft prior to 10th March 1943. L9884 was allocated to 51 O.T.U. at Cranfield and was in the process of being delivered over two days with a night stop at Sherburn in Elmet when it crashed at Little Fenton on 9th March 1943. As a result of the crash on 9th March 1943 Cat.E/FA damage was the damage assessment and it was written off.
