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paulmcmillan
29th June 2018, 08:32
26th April 1937 Tutor K3280 of CUAS hit HT cables while low flying.

I have found a news report on this incident

However, I cannot ID the pilot..

Mr. Simon Frazer, of Pembroke College, Cambridge

Any Ideas anyone ?...


Published: Friday 30 April 1937
Newspaper: Berks and Oxon Advertiser
County: Berkshire, England

AEROPLANE CRASHES AT CHOLSEY

ELECTRIC CABLE STRUCK Pilot's Remarkable Escape A member of the University Flying Club at Duxford, Cambridge, had a .remarkable escape from death or serious injury on Monday afternoon, when an aeroplane, of which he was the pilot, crashed into a field at Cholsey. The pilot, Mr. Simon Frazer, of Pembroke College, Cambridge, was in a single-seater (sic), Tutor (unclear), and was accompanied by another machine of a similar type

Mr. Frazer's machine skimmed the telegraph wires on the Oxford-Reading main road, and alter hitting the electric cable wires which run across the field near Berks Mental Hospital. it crashed in the ploughed portion of the field. The 'plane was wrecked, but the pilot escaped with cuts and bruises. He walked to the roadway, and a passing motorist gave him a lift to an hotel. where he telephoned to his headquarters at Duxford. The Police, under Inspector Barrett (Wallingford). quickly arrived. and remained on duty for several hours. They prevented anyone from smoking in the vicinity of the debris. The wrecked 'plane was visited by hundreds of passers-by during the afternoon and evening. As a result of the accident, the electricity supply in the district was cut off. Engineers from the Wessex Electricity Company were rushed to the spot. and after working for over an hour, they fixed up a temporary supply. The manager of Mr. Jacob's garage told our representative that he saw the 'plane descending and thought it was going to hit the garage. It seemed ID skim the telegraph wires by the side of the railway,•' he said. One of his wings must have touched the wires. because a boy afterwards found a piece of a wing on the railway line. Another eye-witness. Corporal G. F. Shorthouse, of the Army Dental Corps. Brock Barracks. was motoring along the main road when he saw two 'planes in the distance. One of them seemed to hit something which caused the tail to go up and the 'plane crashed to the ground. I stopped at the nearest point, and saw the 'plane—a single-seater R.A.F. machine—wrecked in a field. It had apparently struck an electric cable. When I gut to the spot the pilot had extricated himself from the Wreckage and was walking around. I went to his assistance, but he was practically unhurt. The other machine circled round until the pilot signalled that he was all right, and then flew off. A Chokey correspondent has forwarded the following communication to the Berks and Oxon Advertiser :—When the R.A.F. 'plane crashed ...
When the R.A.F. 'plane crashed and brought down the overhead mains that supply this ...that supply this district, users feared that they would be without electricity for a considerable time. This fear. however considerable time. This fear. however, was groundless. as the following notes will show. The machine crashed at 2.10 p.m.. and at.. and at 2.50 p.m., cars_were on the spot with electricians and a working gang from the Wessex Company. At it 20, I found the current was on. It has not been cut off since, and at the time of writing it is hours since the crash. The whys were very badly damaged, and some of the poles were leaning, yet the electricians succeeded in putting on a temporary supply in the short space of 2 hours 10 minutes. Well done, Wessex !—G.W.B

bruce dennis
29th June 2018, 09:13
The problem may be in the description: according to this source ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Alumni_of_Pembroke_Colleg e,_Cambridge&from=F

... no 'Frazer' has attended Pembroke.

paulmcmillan
29th June 2018, 14:07
Pilot was Simon John Fraser later DFC RAAF Service Number 524

Lateral thinking

Fraser/Frazer

Search Fraser on Pembroke (circa 1935 to 1939) then...

The Cambridge University swimming captain has
awarded S. J. Fraser (Pembroke) a half blue for swimming,

Try "Simon J Fraser" Pembroke and you get ......

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)
Tue 13 Oct 1942
MELBOURNE AIRMAN FATALLY HURT IN MOTOR CRASH


News has been received by Mrs
Simon Fraser, jun, Bruce st, Toorak,
of the death of her husband, Sqd-
Ldr Simon J. Fraser, RAAF, on
Sunday following injuries received
in a motor accident in Northern
Australia on Saturday. Sqd-Ldr
Fraser, who was 27, was the elder
son of Mrs Simon Fraser, Trawalla
av, Toorak, and the late Mr Simon
Fraser, former well-known oarsman.
His grandfather was the late Sir
Simon Fraser.


Sqd-Ldr Fraser was educated at
Melbourne GS, Melbourne University,
and Pembroke College, Cambridge,
where he gained a swimming half
blue. He also played ice hockey for
the university, and rowed for his
college. In 1939 he became a mem-
ber of Melbourne Stock Exchange,
and the same year enlisted in RAAF
as a cadet. He had previously flown
with Cambridge Air Squadron. His
younger brother, Peter, is serving in
the AIF. First call of Stock Ex-
change was adjourned for 5 minutes
yesterday as a mark of respect