Mustang near Bumper Castle, York.

On the evening of the 23rd of December 1942 this Mustang was returning to base at Clifton from a detachment at another station. It was flying in formation and the aircraft begun landing. While the pilot of this aircraft was making his landing, he undershot and crashed into a concrete mixer and crashed. One source (The History of Clifton Airfield) stated the aircraft lost power in its engine and the aircraft crashed into an incomplete section of the runway where it was being extended. An engine fitter, Ron Chapman, jumped onto a tractor and drove to crash scene where he pulled the badly injured pilot out of the wreckage. The aircraft was written off, the pilot is believed to have survived although badly injured. The airfield was not informed of what time the Mustangs were to be expected, as a result they had no N/F factilities.

The aircraft was built to purchase contract 15471 by North American at Inglewood,Dallas and shipped to the UK arriving in May 1942. It was issued to 4 Sqdn at Clifton in August 1942 and sustained Cat. E2/FA damage at Clifton on 23rd December 1942.

Pilot - P/O D A J Draper RAF, survived.