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Registration or Serial: LF160
Operator: Royal Air
Force
Operating Base: RAF Connel; 17 Grp. Coastal; 26
Grp. Bomber Command;
516 Squadron RAF.
Base Location:
North Connel, near Oban, Scotland
Current Airport Status: Closed 1945. Used by light
aircraft.
(Principal airport data courtesy of
John Woodside,
A
Catalogue of UK Airfields)
Aircraft Nicknames: Hurry; Flying Tin
Openers; Flying Can Openers (later versions).
Aircraft Type & Background
A military single-seat interceptor/fighter/bomber flown by the Royal Air
Force. The Hurricane was designed by Sidney Camm and built mainly by
Hawker Aircraft Ltd.
The
Hawker Hurricane was equipped with 1 Rolls Royce
liquid-cooled Merlin III 12-cylinder power plant. Later
version had a Merlin XX, XXI or XXII power plant.
It was armed
with eight .303 inch Browning machine guns mounted on the
wings.
Construction (Mark I)
Fabric covered wings; wooden propeller
(metal in revised Mark I) This version was equipped with a
Merlin III engine.
Aircraft Accident Details
The Hawker Hurricane featured here was attached to 516 Squadron,
26 Group Bomber Command,
then operating out of RAF Connel near Oban on the west coast
of Scotland. This aircraft was flown by Warrant Officer (W/O) J. E.
Stephen (RAF).
Together with two other
Hurricanes, the pilot took off on a low-flying training exercise
scheduled to take place just off Ardnamurchan Peninsula, NE of
Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. However, after completing the
exercise and while beginning their flight back to RAF Connel,
the pilots encountered heavy cloud and mist.
In an attempt to find
the nearest suitable landing area, the three aircraft separated. W/O
Stephen set course for the base at RAF Tiree. Sadly, the
pilot failed to reached Tiree. His wrecked aircraft was discovered 3
days later on the Isle of Coll.
Another
Hurricane, LF207 flown by
Fl/Lt A. J. Woodgate, crashed at Beinn na Seilg on the Ardnamurchan
Peninsula, killing the pilot. A third pilot survived after
crash-landing his Hurricane at Carse Farm, Stirling.
The pilot who died on
the Isle of Coll, was:
W/O Stephen was laid to
rest at Havant and Waterloo (Warblington) Cemetery).
A granite boulder
overlooking this and one of the other crash sites bears a plaque
dedicated to the memory of these pilots.
For a more
comprehensive account of this accident, please see Phillip Jones'
entry at Combined
Operations website, under 516 Squadron.
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