Beaufighter T4782 at Catfoss airfield.
On 31st July 1943 this No.2 (Coastal) Operartional Training Unit aircraft was taking off from Catfoss with a trainee pilot flying solo, he lost control, the aircraft swung and crashed on the airfield boundary. Sadly the pilot died.
Pilot - Sgt Robert Jewett Dickson RAFVR (1345887), aged 22. Of Kirkintilloch. Buried Kirkintilloch Cemetery, Dunbartonshire.
Sgt Dickson's grave in Kirkintilloch Cemetery, photograph credit to "apanderson"
Beaufighter T4782 was built to contract B.41906/39 by Fairey Aviation Ltd. at Heaton Chapel, Stockport and was awaiting collection in July 1942. The date it was taken on charge by 2 (C)OTU at Catfoss is not yet known. As a result of minor damage at Catfoss on 1st March 1943 minor Cat.A(c)/FA resulted and it was repaired on site. The aircraft then sustained much more serious damage when it crashed at Catfoss on 31st July 1943.