Mustang AG347 (Photo via Jim Rutland).
On the 9th of December 1942 a number of 4 Sqdn Mustangs were undertaking an practice sortie off the Yorkshire coast. An hour into the flight, at 11.35hrs,
a fishing trawler saw one aircraft flying very low and strike the sea killing the pilot. The investigation into the crash found that the flying conditions were described as "bumpy", it was though the pilot had not strapped himself in and during this bumpy
stage he had banged his head on the canopy and possibly became disorianted.
Pilot - F/O Robert A Hunnings RAFVR, aged 25, Puddletown, Dorset. Buried Manor Road Cemetery, Scarborough, Yorkshire.
The pilot had a total of 305 hours flying at the time of the crash but only 68 of these hours were on the Mustang.
He had previously served as a Lt in the Royal Berkshire Regiment, he was married to Nora Hunnings.