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Registration or Serial: Unknown
Operator:
Royal Air Force
(60 OTU - Operational Training Unit)
Operating Base: RAF East
Fortune
(Support airfield for RAF Drem)
Base Location:
East Fortune,
(N. Berwick), E. Lothian, Scotland.
Current Airport Status:
Closed 1946; now,
National Museum of Flight
(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withdrawn from front-line operations.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
The
Defiant aircraft featured here had been assigned to No. 60
Operational Training Unit (OTU) RAF, based at East Fortune Airfield
(a support airfield in East Lothian for RAF Drem).
On 29
August 1941, the pilot, Flt Sgt A.D.C. La Gruta, was sent out to conduct a series of 'homing
tests' in a Defiant aircraft. It is thought he lost control of the
aircraft whilst flying in cloud. The exact reason he lost control
remains unclear.
The
aircraft struck the ground at high speed in a very steep dive. The
bulk of the aircraft ended up buried nearly 5m (16ft) underground. The MoD
decided the aircraft and pilot could not be recovered.
The pilot
was:
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Accident Date
29 August 1941
Accident
Site
Lammermuir Hills
(Between
Hunt Law & Newbigging Rig, & at the Head of Earnscleuch
Water)
Region: Borders (Berwickshire) close to
the border with East Lothian
Nearest
town or village:
Hillhouse, Addinston or
Gifford
OSGB36 Ref: NT
5727 5769
Present Condition
Significant wreckage remains
onsite, together with the memorial to Flt Sgt A.D.C. La Gruta
who is buried at this site.
War Grave
In view of the fact that this
memorial marks a war grave, visitors are requested to
respect the site and to remember the young airman who died
here.
Photo of
Flt Sgt La Gruta's grave at Geograph
Related Links
Forums, Organisations, &
Societies
Other Links
Commonwealth War Graves
Commission
Below: A Defiant on display at The Boulton Paul
Association. Note the rear-facing gun turret. (The
Defiant had no forward-facing guns.)
Photo: copyright
©
2003-2007 Mark Ansell.
Used courtesy of Mark Ansell,
The Boulton Paul Association
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