HERBERT RICHARD BIRCH (C N-W C)

Herbert Birch was the pilot of De Havilland Mosquito TA701 of 139 Sqn based at RAF Hemswell. On the night of 22nd January 1951, he and his navigator Flight Lieutenant G T Burnie had been detailed to conduct shallow dive bombing attacks on the practice range at Wainfleet, just to the south of Skegness.

At night, it is often possible for the pilot to fly visually once they have climbed to sufficient altitude and the horizon can be distinguished with the aid of starlight. However, as they descend, the horizon once again becomes indistinct and it is important that the pilot makes the transition back to instrument flying.

On this occasion, Herbert Birch left that transition just a few seconds too late and in doing so delayed his pull out of the dive. The Mosquito hit the ground at a shallow angle and crashed. Flight Lieutenant Birch was killed, but his navigator Flight Lieutenant Burnie survived.

Like so many aviation disasters, there was an extremely narrow margin between a routine flight and catastrophe. Just a few feet higher and both would have returned to Hemswell, probably without even realising how close they had come to the ground.