RAF Volunteer Reserve Pilot Officer's tunic and side cap. This particular example is Battle of Britain dated and named to P A Harding. At some stage it would appear that the tunic has been 'doctored' with the addition of a set of pilot's wings. Our investigations have suggested that the airman in question was Paul Anthony Harding.
Paul Harding was born on the 28th September 1912 and was commissioned into the RAF in October 1939, initially working at the Air Ministry. From his service records, it appears he was attached to two Polish squadrons: No. 302 squadron during the Battle of Britain and into early 1941, and 315 squadron from May-October, 1941. He was promoted to Flying Officer in November 1940 and was mentioned in dispatches in September 1941, although we have not been able to trace the relevant citation.
In November 1941 F/O Harding transferred to Fighter Command and began training as a navigator with various training wings, schools and operational training units. Eventually, having qualified, he joined No. 264 Squadron on the 24th September 1942, to fly as navigator in De Havilland Mosquito Mk II night fighters. Tragically, he was killed just over a week later on the 2nd October 1942, in a flying accident at RAF Colerne, Wiltshire.
Details from the RAF casualty file suggest that the Mosquito, serial number DD639, had embarked on a training flight just after midday to practice single engine flying. At 12.25, after twelve minutes of flight, the crew reported that the port propeller had failed to un-feather and they would need to execute an emergency landing. The aircraft made a good approach to the airfield and all was in order until the aircraft was at an altitude of 50ft and 100 yards from the end of the north-south runway. At this point, the nose of the aircraft rose steeply into the air and the starboard engine was then fully opened up. This resulted in the aircraft swinging violently to port through 90 degrees with the left wing down. The pilot then made a valiant attempt to climb to avoid the fighter hangar, but the aircraft stalled and crashed into the western doors of the hangar and exploded. The pilot ,Squadron Leader P T Parsons and F/O Harding were both killed.
Squadron Leader Parsons was an experienced pilot, having flown Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain period and it is not clear what caused him to abort his landing. However, whilst experienced in single-seat, single-engine fighters, it is not clear what level of experience he had in flying modern high-performance twin-engine aircraft. The potential lack of familiarity with the aircraft and in particular, its handling characteristics when flying on one engine at low-level, are possible factors in the fatal accident.