Lysander at Clifton Airfield.

On the 17th of February 1942 this Lysander's crew were making practice dives on an air to ground gunnery (camera) targets at their home airfield of Clifton, York. The crew were firing the aircrafts forward firing .303 machine guns at targets on the ground, a gun was located in each wheel spat. For some reason the aircraft struck the ground on one of these dives after failing to pull up in time. The crash resulted in the death of one airman and injury to the other. The engine broke off and rolled for someway across the airfield. One of the airmen on the aircraft (probably the survivor) was pulled from the wreckage alive, one source states that the rescuers stood him upright, where upon he staggered around for a short while before collapsing with what was described as minor injuries. The aircraft was written off. The 4 Sqdn ORB simply states "Fatal accident to P/O L E G Buck".

The aircraft was built to contract B54504/39 by Westland at Yeovil and delivered to RAF MU storage in June 1941. It was issued to 4 Sqdn on an as yet unspecified date before being written off with Cat. E2/FA damage in the incident detailed above on 17th February 1942.

Pilot - P/O Leonard E G Buck RAFVR, aged 30, of Rotton Park, Birmingham. Buried Fulford Cemetery, York.

Air Gunner - F/Sgt Boyd, being severely injured..

P/O Buck's gravestone.