138444, Flying Officer (pilot), David Thomas Boret LEADER
Aged 20
medals not known
Royal Air Force
Died in a flying accident on Friday 30th July 1943
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Born on 28th March 1923 [Newmarket 3b:768], the son of Colledge and Phyllis Janet Carruthers LEADER (née BORET), of Fairway House, Bury Road,
Newmarket. His father was trainer for Lord Derby at Stanley House Stables, Bury Road, Newmarket from 1934 but
died in 1938.
Educated at Rugby in Sheriff House from September 1936 to August 1939. He was in the Hockey XI and Swimming VI. In the 1939 register his widowed mother Phyllis J.C. [14-5-1897] a message supervisor/ARP warden, was at Falmouth Cottage, Snailwell Road, Newmarket. There are 2 closed records |
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David was undergoing further training at No 39 Service Flying Training School at Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada,and was killed when Airspeed Oxford
X6538 crashed.
On https://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSvcid=656226&GRid=155697922& is a comprehensive record and photograph added by Ray Martinson:- Flight (sic) Officer Leader died as a result of a flying accident. From the report of the investigating officer: 1. F/O. Leader met his death and F/Lt. (Eric Stuart) Gilbert was injured in the performance of Air Force duty at approximately 15.00 hours on July 30, 1943, when their Oxford (Mk. II, #X6538) disintegrated in the air and crashed (ten miles north and two miles west of Rush Lake). 2. F/O. Leader was an experienced pilot on Single Engined aircraft and had recently been transferred to this unit for conversion to an instructor on Oxfords. At the time of the accident he was receiving instruction from F/Lt. Gilbert. 3. The aircraft was recovering from a dive when the port wing broke up and the aircraft spun to earth. F/Lt. Gilbert was thrown out and parachuted to safety, whilst F/O. Leader was thrown out nearer to the ground, being killed on impact. 4. Only one witness than the pupil in another aircraft (L.A.C. Norman Webster Hudaon) and the surviving pilot were obtainable, who knew anything about the accident prior to the breaking up of the aircraft. At least a dozen witnesses were questioned but none of them saw the accident until the aircraft was in the process of disintegrating in the air. 5. When the investigation opened it appeared that F/Lt. Gilbert had rolled his aircraft in contravention of flying regulations, but the subsequent evidence did not seem to substantiate this. This pilot admits that he went onto his back as a result of a stall from a steep turn, which might have given witness No.1 the impression that a roll was being made. 6. There is evidence that both the surviving pilot and the pilot of the other aircraft engaged in unauthorized chasing of one another, but this was not the cause of the accident. 7. This investigation was made in conjunction with the Inspector of Accidents from No.4 Training Command who is sending a confidential report direct to Air Force Headquarters. 8. From the evidence obtainable, it is considered that the aircraft disintegrated in the air in dive following a stall in a steep turn. FINDINGS: Primary: Overstretching of the aeroplane structure followed by structural failure of the left wing spar. Secondary: Disintegration in and hitting the ground.". Interment took place Aug. 2, 1943. Burial: Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Swift Current, Swift Current Census Division, Saskatchewan, Canada. Plot: Veterans' Plot. |
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