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Registration or Serial: W9187
Operator: Royal Air
Force
Operating Base: RAF Dundonald ('Bogside')
Combined Operations Development Flight; EFTS Prestwick,
Reserve Field (until 1941); 516 Squadron RAF
Base Location:
Dundonald, near Troon, Scotland
Current Airport Status: Extinct. Closed 1
August 1945. Derequisitioned in 1952 and returned to farming
and industrial use. Sections of runway may still be visible.
(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.
W9187 was
one of 200 Hurricane Mk.1s delivered between November 1940
and February 1941, by Gloster Aircraft. She served first
with 607 sqd, then with 59 OTU, before going to 1441 flt.
(forerunner of 516). [PJ]
Aircraft Accident Details
The
Mark I Hawker Hurricane featured here was attached to 516 Squadron,
which, at the time, was based at RAF Dundonald, near Troon,
Ayrshire.
During a combined
operations flight, the pilot of the Hurricane—F/O
Rymer—experienced
engine problems and was forced to make an emergency landing.
The aircraft crashed landed at Finnock—a
spacious area of relatively level ground on the hills behind Inverkip and
Wemyss Bay.
According to
the Records, the engine of the Hurricane failed in flight,
and the pilot was forced to land with undercarriage
retracted. The engine began to run roughly and black smoke
was being emitted from the exhaust ports.
The Report goes
on to say that no blame was attached to the pilot [F/O Rymer].
On subsequent inspection of the engine, a side camshaft was
found to be 'unserviceable' ('U/S') due to a fracture.
The Hurricane
was fitted with a Merlin 3 engine. Its serial number was
175059.
The accident
occurred at 12:30 hrs [on 18 September 1942]. At the time,
87426 F/O R. Rymer had accumulated a total of 680 hours solo
flying, with 14 hours solo on Hurricanes.
F/O Richard ('Dickie') Rymer
survived the accident—and the War. He went on to become a
test pilot for BAC. Sadly, however, he and his crew died
when the prototype BAC 111 crashed.
Accident
data above kindly provided by Phillip Jones.
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Accident Date
18 September 1942
Accident
Site
Finnock
(vicinity of Inverkip)
Region: Inverclyde
Nearest
towns or villages: Inverkip; Wemyss Bay; Greenock
No onsite photos available.
OS Grid Ref: N/A
Exact location unknown at present
Present Condition
As far as is known, the wreckage of
this aircraft was recovered from the site. However, if anyone can
report the existence of remaining wreckage or fragments, we
would be grateful for any details you can provide.
Related Links
The following links provide further
information on the Hawker Hurricane:
Below:
Mk. I RAF Hawker Hurricane R4118. This aircraft is still
flying in 2007.
Photo:
2006 Adrian Pingstone (Arpingstone)
Released by the author to the public domain.
Below:
Mk IIa Hawker Hurricane at
National Museum of the USAF.
Photo: [no date] US Federal Government
image released to the public domain.
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