Lansing, Michigan, USA
1622 Flight, Gosport. Defiant aircraft DR 896 was operating at 1,000 feet and was approaching the practise target on its sixth run in when it went into some low level aerobatics and crashed at the Eastney A.A. Range, Hampshire, England. One airman, not Canadian, was also killed.
Shaver, Wilber Joseph (Flight Sergeant)
Killed in Flying Accident 1943-August-16
Birth Date: 1922-February-12
Born: Lansing, Michigan
Parents: Son of Joseph I. Shaver and Ninah M. Shaver, of Lancing, Michigan.
Spouse:
Home: Lansing, Michigan, USA
Enlistment: Windsor, Ontario
Enlistment Date: 1941-November-22
Service
RCAF
Unit
1622 Flight- Flight
Base
Rank
Flight Sergeant
Position
Pilot
Service Numbers
R/137419
Canadian Virtual War MemorialCrew or Other Personnel
Defiant DR896
Defiant serial: DR896
(RAF Photo) (Source Harold A Skaarup web page)
Boulton Paul P.82 Defiant, RAF (Serial No. L7026), coded PS*V, c1941.
Boulton Paul P.82 Defiant, RAF (Serial No. L7026), coded PS*V, c1941.
The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any fixed forward-firing guns, also found in the Blackburn Roc of the Royal Navy.
In combat, the Defiant was found to be reasonably effective at destroying bombers but was vulnerable to the Luftwaffe's more manoeuvrable, single-seat Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. The lack of forward-firing armament proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat and its potential was realised only when it was converted to a night fighter. It eventually equipped thirteen squadrons in this role, compared to just two squadrons as a day-fighter. In mid-1942 it was replaced by better performing night-fighters, the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito.
The Defiant continued to find use in gunnery training, target towing, electronic countermeasures and air-sea rescue. Among RAF pilots it had the nickname "Daffy". Wikipedia
Defiant Fighter
Wikipedia Defiant Fighter
Harold A Skaarup Web Page