My ex-girlfriend lived on a farm in Cornwall that a Mosquito crashed into/on to during the war. It was Mosquito FB Mark VI MM413 of 248 Squadron based at RAF Portreath and is listed on the Davidstow Moor website.

However, not sure if they is anything left of the aircraft on the farm – being a Mosquito the bits that weren’t cleared away would have rotted away. That said, I’m sure the 12 cylinder RR engine that powered her Dad’s lawn mower wasn’t a standard fit for a Flymo?!! 😉

Joking aside my Dad recalls many, many FAA a/c crashes in and around Culdrose & Helston, right from the first fatal accident on Nansloe Farm – Mossie T3 VT596 in the late forties…

MM413 crashed on April 11th 1944, and both crew members were killed. I looked into this crash a few years ago as the navigator Ivan F. Dell was from Isleworth, West London, where I grew up and is now buried in Park Road Cemetary. The pilot was RAFVR Sgt. Peter Hunt from Epsom, Surrey. I put a request for information on the RAF Commands forum, and it appears that they were briefed to take part in an operation in the Bay of Biscay. Thier intended aircraft failed to start and they were a few minutes late taking off in a spare aircraft (MM413). It appears that they may have been attempting to ‘cut the corner’ and catch up with the rest of the force when they hit the high ground.

If my memory serves me correctly, didn’t Flt. Lt. Nick Comper put forward, as a marketing point, the fact that although the Swift was only a single seater, there was room for a full set of golf clubs in the rear fuselage! Now isn’t that enough to make it an extraordinarily appealing aeroplane?

Wasn’t there also an option for an in-built briefcase? It slotted in behind the engine firewall, IIRC.

Not sure its the sort of thing Hoffmanns make. I offered to swap my Glady Watts one for their Hurri Watts one but no joy….prob something to do with 3 inches missing off one tip of mine!! No worries though as the Glad is suitably similar )though slightly shorter span) than a Hurri.

The only slight problem would be that the Glad’s prop rotates in the opposite direction! 😀

Hi Ivan,

If I remember right, this was an edition of Airshow World with Jon Nichol and the footage was filmed along a canal in Switzerland. I too would love to see it again, some really breath-taking flying. 🙂

Surely if you’re all so offended by crashes on you tube, then the answer must be DON’T LOOK FOR THEM!!!

True to some extent, although you don’t actually have to be looking for the clip specifically to find the links to it. Type “Spitfire” into youtube’s search facility and the RM689 crash comes up again and again.

Cheque duly sent. 🙂

There’s a good article about the YAM airshow and an interview with the organiser on the link below.

http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/hangar/2008/465elvington/elvington.htm

In cloud cuckoo land it would be nice to have a live Concorde somewhere. Of course if they accidentally rotated at take off speed and lifted off, so much the better. 🙂
The Duxford B24, B29 and B52 spring to mind too, and why not throw in the SR71 while we’ve got the big glass front open?? 😀