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Old 12th January 2009, 00:33
Brian Brian is offline
Alter Hase
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
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Tragedy Salisbury Plain 15 April 1942

Hi guys

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but on 15 April 1942 a demonstration of air-to-ground fire-power was provided in front of a special audience on Salisbury Plain by Hurricanes of 175 Squadron. Sadly, the the exhibition went terribly wrong and one unfortunate pilot erroneously strafed the enclosure and not the target!

25 people were killed and 60 wounded. The pilot was exonerated but the two senior officers (a group captain and a wing commander) conducting the demonstration were court-martialed and reduced to pilot officer.

Do we know who these two officers were? And do we know the identities of the casualties? A tall order, but somewhere the facts must have been recorded.

Cheers
Brian
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