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Registration or Serial: N1731
Operator:
Royal Canadian Air Force
(RCAF)
Operating Base: RAF Drem
(Gullane / West Fenton)
(RCAF 410 Squadron. At this time, 410 Squadron's Operating Base
alternated fortnightly with RAF Ouston (X5OU))
(Currently, RCAF 410 is an inactive Squadron.)
Base Location:
Drem,
N. Berwick, E. Lothian, Scotland,
alternating with Ouston, nr. Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
Current Airport Status (RAF Drem):
Closed 1946; See nearby
support airfield at
East Fortune; now,
National Museum of Flight
Current Airport Status (RAF Ouston):
Operational Military Depot. Army
assumed control in 1974 and renamed the site Albermarle
Barracks. Was used as Cruise missile store and ordnance depot.
(Principal airport data courtesy of
John Woodside,
A
Catalogue of UK Airfields)
Aircraft Nickname: Daffy
Aircraft Type & Background
Boulton Paul was a well
known aircraft builder of the period. In the 1920s and early 1930s,
this company had participated in the building of the R101 airship.
(The subsequent enquiry into the loss of the R101 concluded that the
airship had been well constructed, and that the loss was not due to
any failure of the airframe.)
The Boulton Paul Defiant was
equipped with a single engine, and was armed with four machine guns,
fitted in a hydraulically-powered dorsal turret. However, the
Defiant had no forward-facing guns.
The
aircraft was powered by a
single Rolls-Royce Merlin III liquid-cooled V12 engine. It had a
maximum speed of 504 km/h (313mph), and carried a crew of two (pilot and air-gunner).
Although
the first prototype flew in 11 August 1937, the Boulton Paul Defiant
was not delivered to the RAF until December 1939.
Initially, over Dunkirk, the Defiant proved an effective fighter.
Ultimately however, and due to poor manoeuvrability and the lack of
forward-facing guns, it proved no
match for the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Consequently, they were
withdrawn from front-line operations. However, the Defiants became very
effective in their new role as night-fighters.
Aircraft Accident Details
Accident
details are sparse. However, from the information available, it
seems that a number of Defiants had recently been delivered to 410
Squadron RAF. The squadron had been engaging in night training flights in the vicinity of RAF Drem (E.
Lothian).
During one
such flight, Defiant N1731 crashed into a hillside close to Bleaklaw, near the
village of Gifford in E. Lothian. Both crew members were killed. These were:
-
Denis
Winton Hall (21) / pilot / RAFVR. Sgt. Hall was attached
to 410 (RCAF) Sqdn. He was laid to rest at Direlton Cemetery, E.
Lothian.
-
Denis
George Cresswell (23) / Flight Sergeant (Air Gunner) / RAFVR.
Fl/Sgt. Cresswell was also attached to 410 (RCAF) Sqdn. He was
cremated at Nottingham Crematorium.
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