Just a little query ,
I bought a few years ago with a job lot, about 80 aircraft plates, all postwar.
but 3 of them were of WW2 origin and being marked on the back in Pen.
DD736 Kings Lynn Crash…
After looking Air britain files .. it says Mosquito II DD736 was lost in a accident ,”Spun into Ground” Nr Kings Lynn. on 23.11.44.
and served with R-R & AAEE,then 141 Sqn, and finally with 1692 Flt.
There are 2 brass plates one is imprinted with the Air Ministry symbol a Crown
the words “BODY Ref No 14A/720, Serial No K.8. 4392”.
Other Brass Plate has the words “JUNCTION BOX TYPE 255, Ref.No 10A/16103.(war Dept Arrow) SERIAL No 1013.
then There is the last plate ,a Aluminium MOD plate .
with the words. “DH98 ,SERIAL No RAS/DH/A 74 2. DRG No E98 312 A Iss 7 .
and below this the various Mods that were carried out, bieng 143,180,40,228.
I would be very interested to find out more about the Dig of this Aircraft. or if anything else remains of DD736, or Photo’s or if any one was actually on that recovery maybe back in the 70s or 80s .
Or indeed anone who can maybe give me a idea where on the aircraft these plates would have been situated ???.
or if anyone has anymore small pieces of DD736, as I would like to make up a nice Box frame with all the Info etc in the box frame to go with the Data Plates, and maybe any other small bits of DD736 i can find.
many thanks in anticipation,
Chris 🙂
By: Ray Kemp - 8th November 2010 at 14:35
Mosquito DD736
Thought you all might like to know that the navigator who died in this crash was Flying Officer, Frederick Ruffle DFC of 515 squadron. Before the crash Fred had flown over 61 sorties on intruder operations. Most of them with the elite pathfinder 8 group. He was awarded his DFC for the part he played on more than one occasion during the raids made on the Dortmund Ems Canal in Germany.
On the occasion of this flight he was not flying with his “usual” pilot. But agree at the last minute to take up Flying Officer Charles Preece to help him train on the equipment you have mentioned.
He also took part in the siege of Malta and the D Day landings.
Fred left a wife and ten month old daughter, He is buried in the churchyard at Holy Trinity Church, High Hurstwood in East Sussex.
My family are extremely grateful to all who have contributed to this discussion to the light they have shed on this tragedy. Until now we did not know the precise place or the exact circumstances of the crash.
By: GrahamSimons - 1st November 2010 at 20:34
Four pics taken during the recovery operation. Some items were in very good condition – others were – ‘leave alone and walk away – SLOWLY’.
EOD and RAF did a lot of the work – both Merlins were removed, I cleaned up one – which went to the Tower Museum at Bassingbourn, the other went to a Museum store in the Kings Lynn area. Of the 600 rounds of 20mm, EOD recovered 595, and blew up the breech of one cannon, which I was told had two in. One, which was how the aircraft was discovered in the first place, was held by Kings Lynn Police.
Date according to slides was 1974-6.
I’m still looking for the paperwork!
By: Moggy C - 1st November 2010 at 14:57
.. it was Middleton Fen
Ah… found it.
You had me worried for a moment. The only Middleton Fen I could find was over in Suffolk.
F/O C J Preece RCAF appears to have been the pilot. Do we have any information on the second crew member?
Moggy
By: merkle - 1st November 2010 at 13:44
looks like a very eventful dig then Graham,
any idea what happened to the merlins ?
By: GrahamSimons - 31st October 2010 at 20:28
Entry in “Mosquito Crash Log” by MCP 1980:
“23.11.44 1692 BSTU DD736 Aircraft seen spiralling out of cloud, righted itself then spun into the ground at East Winch, Norfolk. Aircraft was coded J.”
Location is wrong – it was Middleton Fen
By: GrahamSimons - 31st October 2010 at 20:26
Like I said… next time I’m up in the loft, I’ll dig (excuse the pun) out the paperwork… the dig was in the late 1970s….. done by East Anglian Aviation Society – of which I was Engineering Director – we were working along with a team from the RAF and EOD Bicester. We also got Gerry Swannenburg over from Holland as a consultant.
The aircraft was ex 1692 BSTU, 141 Sqn and Rolls Royce. Both engines, props, radiators and a lot of other bits and pieces came out, along with 600 rounds of 20mm. There was also oxy bottles with holes through them. We also recovered a Molins built ‘Verey’ pistole which was built under licence to Webley which we presented back to Molins Ltd.
Depth of dig varied from a prop tip sticking out of the mud to 20 ft deep. There was a pic I got from the R-R files, but that has since dissapeared.
More to follow
By: Batman - 31st October 2010 at 20:22
Entry in “Mosquito Crash Log” by MCP 1980:
“23.11.44 1692 BSTU DD736 Aircraft seen spiralling out of cloud, righted itself then spun into the ground at East Winch, Norfolk. Aircraft was coded J.”
By: merkle - 31st October 2010 at 19:17
Great, we have a forumite who was actualy at the dig 😀
was this one of those very deep excavations, and what sort of items were recovered, did the engine remains come out ??.
really interested in this ,as I love the way a few little pieces i have can unravel a very interesting but tragic story.. 🙂
when was the recovery , pre or post 1986 ??
is there any photo’s of DD736 ,
Thanks for your replies Graham, Bruce, Richard 😀
By: GrahamSimons - 31st October 2010 at 13:14
one went ‘bang’ by EOD…. as to the other….. I went looking – no longer around I think
By: Bruce - 31st October 2010 at 13:04
I think we have two of the cannon, and the other pair went to DAS – love to find them, so we can put them in TA122 with the others!
By: Richard gray - 31st October 2010 at 12:55
Bit more Here.
By: GrahamSimons - 31st October 2010 at 12:15
as they say ‘I wuz there’
Got over 80 trannies of the dig etc
I’ll scan a few when I got time – there’s a good chance it was a ‘friendly fire’ incident. Somewhere in the loft is all the paperwork – the props went to Tony Agar up in Yorkshire.
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October 31, 2010 at 9:41 am